Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of nonhuman animals

in experiments Vivisection, which is the practice of experimenting on live animal The recently released report for the year 2000 (U.S.) is heavily laden with statistics. The report tells us that 1,416,643 animals were experimented on in fiscal year 2000. This number is broken down by species: 69,516 dogs, 25,560 cats, 57,518 primates, 505,009 guinea pigs, 258,754 rabbits, 23,934 sheep, 66,651 pigs, 69126 "other" farm animals, and 166,429 "other" animals. According to the report 104,202 (7.4%) of these animals were used in painful or stressful experimentation without benefit of anesthesia. What types of animals are used?: 1.) mice and rats because they are small, cheap to house and easy to breed 2.) pigs (Guinea pigs), 3.)rabbits, 4.)cats, 5.)dogs, 6.)primates(monkeys), 7.)birds, 8.)reptiles, 9.)sheep, 10.)cattle, 11.)chickens, 12.)horses and 13.)fishes

Who Conducts The Tests?

Most animal tests are conducted by: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States: they are the worlds largest funder of animal experiments. The military: tests include radiation experiments, studies on the effects of chemical warfare and wound experiments Private institutions and companies: many household products and cosmetics are still squirted into the animals' eyes, pumped into their stomachs, rubbed onto their skins or forced to inhale. Agricultural companies: experiment are performed on cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs and turkeys to try to get them to produce more milk, wool, eggs or meat. Education and Training: animals are used in classrooms as part of the teaching process. This includes dissecting in biology class as well as training for medical and veterinary students.

Two positions on animal experiments In favour of animal experiments: Experimenting on animals is acceptable if (and only if): 1. suffering is minimised in all experiments 2. human benefits are gained which could not be obtained by using other methods Against animal experiments: 1. 2. 3. Experimenting on animals is always unacceptable because: it causes suffering to animals the benefits to human beings are not proven any benefits to human beings that animal testing does provide could be produced in other ways

When researchers say most of the animals we use are rats and mice, it is as though they want us to believe these animals are disposable objects who cannot suffer. Rats and mice are intelligent, inquisitive animals. They

possess strong maternal instincts, and experience pain and fear just like any other animal. They are used in horrific experiments to test pain levels and in toxicity tests, in which they are literally poisoned to death. Harm versus benefit The case for animal experiments is that they will produce such great benefits for humanity that it is morally acceptable to harm a few animals. The equivalent case against is that the level of suffering and the number of animals involved are both so high that the benefits to humanity don't provide moral justification. The three Rs The three Rs are a set of principles that scientists are encouraged to follow in order to reduce the impact of research on animals. The three Rs are: Reduction, Refinement, Replacement. 1. Reduction:

Reducing the number of animals used in experiments by: Improving experimental techniques Improving techniques of data analysis Sharing information with other researchers 2. Refinement: Refining the experiment or the way the animals are cared for so as to reduce their suffering by:

Using less invasive techniques Better medical care Better living conditions 3. Replacement: Replacing experiments on animals with alternative techniques such as:

Experimenting on cell cultures instead of whole animals Using computer models Studying human volunteers Using epidemiological studies

In short: Three

R's

Many scientists and governments agree that animals should be used only when necessary. They instituted a guiding principle for animal testing called the "Three R's," which stands for replacement, reduction and refinement. In other words, replace with possible non-animal methods, reduce animal use as much as possible and refine procedures to minimize animal suffering when there are no possible replacement methods.

Percentages

The majority of animal testing experiments are not scientific experiments. About 90 percent of animal testing and experimentation is done in the drug, food and cosmetic industries. Only about 10 percent is done for scientific purposes.

Effects

The majority of products that people use or ingest---which involve chemicals---have been tested on animals. Rabbits have been used to test the amount of damage inflicted by eye shadows, while guinea pigs have been used to test irritations made by sunscreen products. Although these types of experiments have been beneficial to people, they also cause suffering to animals because of the side effects. Records show that there is an estimated 50 to 100 million animals experimented on each year---most of which either die or are euthanized after being used for experiments.

Medical Progress
Animal testing is approved of by many people, because they believe that these tests are necessary for medical progress. The truth is that many animal experiments are not only horrible for the animals, but also very unreliable. There are enormous physiological variations among rabbits, dogs, pigs and humans for instance.

Alternatives to Animal Testing

There are sophisticated non-animal research methods which are more accurate, less expensive and less timeconsuming than certain animal-based research methods. Alternatives include computer simulators and imaging techniques, epidemiological studies (studies of human populations), clinical research, in vitro research (in a test tube) and replacing animals with human cells in safety tests.

Marami pa dito:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/experiments_1.shtml http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/mice-and-rats-in-laboratories.aspx (may video ditto,di ko lang alam kung macocopy mo ) http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=7 For pictures: http://www.veganpeace.com/animal_cruelty/animal_testing.htm http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/sos-animal-welfare-eu-animal-experimentation-directive/ http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/factfiles/exp.pdf