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Facts About Animal Testing

By: Ian Murnaghan BSc (hons), MSc - Updated: 6 May 2024 | comments*Discuss
 
Animal Testing Quick Facts Controversy

Animal testing involves a lot of controversy and confusion regarding its practices, implementation and monitoring. Conflicting opinions and exaggerated information can also compound the confusion. It's helpful to examine some of the most important facts to better understand the different aspects of animal testing. This means that you can make a more Informed Decision regarding your stance on animal testing and which aspects, if any, that you support. It also means that your understanding can allow you to actively participate in any discussion about animal testing as well as contribute to organisations that have a focus related to animal testing, whether the organisation supports or condemns the practice.

Fast Facts

Animal testing is used to assess the Safety and Effectiveness of Drugs as well as understand how the human body functions. It is also used for education and training.

Animal testing is used for research, typically in a laboratory environment.

Those who defend animal testing do so for its impact on medicine and health. Animal testing is held particularly important for its contribution to the development of insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and drugs with high mortality rates such as cancer. They cite the suffering and loss of life for animals to be worth the enhancement in human health and the reduction of human suffering. At this time, they don't believe that Alternatives to Animal Testing are sufficient to replace the whole organism in all cases.

Those who are against animal testing cite it as a hurtful, cruel and scientifically lacking practice. They also claim that the benefits are often misconstrued. They believe that alternatives such as cellular or computer models are sufficient enough to replace animal models.

A key point of debate in animal testing is the inability of animals to give informed consent. Animal rights activists often cite that human experimentation is appropriate specifically because of this informed consent.

Animal testing can occur virtually anywhere in the research process although it usually does occur prior to drug testing in humans. It may, however, also occur after a human trial.

Animal testing for cosmetics is banned in the United Kingdom (UK). Non-cosmetics animal testing in the UK is strictly regulated and monitored. The government assesses the level of severity of animal testing under the bands mild, moderate, substantial or unclassified.

  • Internationally, animal tests are used for everything from drugs to cosmetics.
  • In the UK, universities are the top users of animal testing, followed by private companies, charities and the government.
  • Primates and other mammals are the least commonly used animals for testing in the UK. Primates do, however, remain one of the most controversial animals used for testing purposes.
  • In the UK, millions in estimated damages are caused each year to property by animal rights activists. Millions are also spent each year on policing and preventing damage.
  • The vast majority of medical treatments you have used were, at one point, tested on animals.
  • In the UK, the majority of animals used for testing purposes are rats.

Making a Choice

Animal testing is riddled with debate and misconceptions, both on the sides of animal testing supporters and those who are against it. Aim to learn more about the facts of animal testing so that you can make an informed decision regarding its benefit and validity in your life.

What to Read Next...

If you would like to explore more animal testing facts read our article on Quick Statistics on Animal Testing.

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[Add a Comment]
Animal testing is a problem and we need to fix it.
Alyssa - 6-May-24 @ 4:16 PM
I am a nonce. Peppa Pig was touched by the PETA people and now she's my yummy bacon. I touch kids.
The Leader Of Peta - 12-Jul-23 @ 10:08 AM
MY BRUVVA GORGE DYD OF AMNIAL TETSINGG WND I FLINKITS WHEELIE BAD THAT MY OWNER SED DAT I MIEYT BEE A YUMMIEB SCHRUMY PAKIT OF BAYCONB
NOT PEPPA PIG - 5-Jul-23 @ 12:28 PM
Animal testing is barbaric sadistic depraved and heartless there needs to be another way of testing like all the people in prisons let them be tested on give back to society for there crimes animal testing isn't worth an animals life these people who do animal testing on innocent animals don't deserve to be on this earth they are murders
Jan - 6-Dec-20 @ 11:46 PM
Daddy please just 1 more hour Daddy. sob sob sob My teacher is Miss rape why is there white stuff coming our i said
pp in my poo hole - 4-Nov-20 @ 1:21 AM
could some of you just shut up, people are taking time to write this to spread awareness and here some of you are just being very irresponsible and immature.
m - 30-Oct-20 @ 10:44 AM
hwi i dwont twink awnwimal testwing iss gwood. my fwend pepe waas turnnwed intwo a pepega becwauwse owf it!
peepo - 24-Sep-20 @ 9:09 AM
My name is auld bet the pig I like spaghetti my bestie is my young g George and auld Pedro we are the superior species I stay in a swamp
AUL bet - 7-Sep-20 @ 1:50 PM
i would write a comment but I am currently in a packet about to be sold to a man who eats pigs. ~Peppa Pig
bacon packet - 14-Nov-19 @ 10:50 AM
oink, i is a wiggly piggly and i is vry vegn and tink dat animl oink testdin is baaaaaaaaad, oink i sunded lik seepe mcsheprson then i don fink aminals should go bang bang for ppbols tumes. lso mssg to fe pigs ot there beig lockled up and abused - oink, oink oink oink, ooooinnnkkk. ;)
piggy oink oink - 7-Nov-19 @ 12:28 PM
I's a dukki qac qac, and i's gunna complan aboot dis aminal twestinn. Me frind goossy hunk honk was didid in dis aminal tweastin and it hurdid his fethrs rily badd. #sadd duky qac qac :0
me's a duky qac qac - 5-Nov-19 @ 3:14 PM
hi my name is billi an i tink aniamnl tesiting is verrrrrrrry bad. my d.ogg sparky crys at me every tiem i watch sarah mclachlan dog ads and it makes me crie to. ifyou car about ur dog sarky then dont ssupport andimal testing. thaks bie
billi - 25-Jun-19 @ 8:48 PM
Testing on animals is good. We are the superior species so we should be able to test on animals. I once put a rat in a bottle of doctor pepper and it died and it was funny. And then I ate it with 2 pieces of bread and then regurgitated it and fed it to my dog (which is blind because I tested on it aswell)
Animal Tester - 5-Jun-19 @ 11:56 AM
we gotta get dose protests on animal testing gone animal testing is useful and necessary
allie - 2-May-19 @ 7:29 PM
I love animals i cannot live widout cake gimme it otherwise y'all not gonna live we need cakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
pOsT mAn(NiBbA) PaT - 29-Mar-19 @ 2:40 PM
We should all chicken so Nibbas can't eat fried chicken wings
DEestroy al Nibba - 28-Mar-19 @ 1:35 PM
We should do animal testing yaayyy because spider bit spiderman whih made him sick and made him spiderman and he saves the world he kill humans :(
Peereatscrap - 28-Mar-19 @ 1:32 PM
Animals testing is wronge I am doing a school pbl on this and the things that happen are so wrong
Picked - 26-Mar-19 @ 2:17 AM
don't hurt animals please.I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lilipop - 18-Mar-19 @ 3:06 PM
STOP TESTING ON ANIMALS PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
klm - 12-Feb-19 @ 2:36 PM
dogs should not get killed and they are testing products that we use in our house on animals like windex and tide on animals so stop using them !!!!11
klm - 5-Feb-19 @ 2:46 PM
@jiselle187 yes that is true but testing on anything living should be banned no matter if it is a human or not if it is living it should not be tested on. If they want to test on something, they could either test on fake hair and skin or nothing at all
jggff - 13-Dec-18 @ 2:21 PM
oh so you want them to test on humans and cut us open?
gisellel187 - 6-Nov-18 @ 6:28 PM
I personally fink tha its not a good ting deffo don't agree wiv tha typa stuf
lisha - 25-May-18 @ 11:56 AM
Animal testing should be used for experiments because it gives an accurate method, enhance scientific learning, and expands the medical treatment.
fastswimmmer - 25-Apr-18 @ 5:04 AM
imagine if your in a animals shoes and you cant do anything and your about to be cut open and killed havent we done enough testing now its just for fun
ownie - 6-Apr-18 @ 9:35 PM
these animal dont deserve to die. Could you imagine being a defenceless little animal bred and born only to be cut open, injected and electrocuted until you die? 3.8 million Animals are being tested on in the UK alone; this is around 1 animal every 8 seconds.
skye roberts - 22-Mar-18 @ 3:13 PM
it is so sad these days way animal testing
cookies - 24-Jan-18 @ 5:30 PM
just because these animals can't communicate with us doesn't mean that they should die because we want to know if a drug is safe or not. I don't know why we have to kill these living things when they have the same right to life as all humans do, if we can live a nice peaceful life then why can't they?
josh - 21-Jan-18 @ 2:46 PM
animals were here before us and now we're treating them like nothing, killing them, burning them and abusing them. the world is a sick place if we do that to animals.
nope - 12-Nov-17 @ 12:19 AM
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