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Who Performs Animal Testing?

By: Ian Murnaghan BSc (hons), MSc - Updated: 25 Sep 2021 | comments*Discuss
 
Animal Testing Who Performs Uses

Animal testing may conjure up the image of a dubious, remote laboratory but the reality is that animal testing is performed in countless places around the world. It occurs in universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical workplaces and military defence establishments. One of the reasons it occurs in such a great number of places is because its applications are so broad.

Universities

Universities are often at the forefront of research that uses animal testing. Research students led by experienced scientists use animals to better understand how the human body works as well as look at pharmaceuticals and drug development. Universities are quite often in the limelight, which means their treatment of animals is well scrutinised. Still, offences have occurred at universities, such as previous primate experiments at the University of Cambridge.

Medical Schools

Medical research is considered integral to medical understanding and progress. For this reason, medical schools are generally avid supporters of animal testing for improving knowledge and health outcomes in disease prevention, treatment and overall management. At the same time, medical schools are also strong supporters of animal testing alternatives whenever appropriate. In fact, even in the teaching of medical students, new methods are being used as an alternative to animal testing. Some of the leading, highly respected universities in the United States and Britain are using innovative, interactive clinical teaching methods to replace the more old-fashioned types of laboratories.

Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

The pharmaceutical industry is a billion dollar one, with enormous competition to find the next breakthrough drug. Any new drug requires rigorous pharmaceutical testing to ensure its safety. Prior to performing human clinical trials, drugs require preliminary testing on animals. Many drugs won't ever make it beyond this stage, which is precisely why they are tested on animals rather than immediately on humans. This allows researchers to understand how the drugs are metabolised and how they affect the various body systems. It also allows researchers to determine their efficacy. Efficacy, however, must not carry an unacceptable level of risk, which means that a drug working for the intended purpose in an animal is not cause enough to move forward to human trials if the drug causes major side effects, harm or death.

Military Defence Establishments

Many are not aware but animal testing occurs quite regularly in military establishments. One important reason for their use is to protect the military and the general public from weapons and tactics that may be used by other countries. The military performs animal testing to determine how various weapons such as viruses will affect the intended recipients. By using animals, they can gauge the effect and develop the means to prevent and successfully handle the consequences. For the former, this might mean developing vaccines and for the latter, this could mean creating medications to treat those affected, particularly on a wide scale should an enormous number of people be affected. Other testing uses include wound testing where the military examines how various weapons create wounds as well as how those wounds heal.

Animal testing remains an important part of knowledge and progress by a wide range of researchers. You may already be aware of some of the establishments who perform animal testing while others could be new to you. Animal rights activists do sometimes target specific groups, particularly if a highly publicised abuse has occurred. Ultimately, all groups who perform animal testing should be strictly monitored to ensure they perform animal testing with respect and care.

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Animal Testing and Experimenting is most Barbaric. 96% of all the results fail, and can't be used on Humans. A hundred and fifteen million animals die per year as a direct result of the Torture they are put through every second of their lives, by the Insane Scientists who do the most Heinous things to them. 3% survive, they have to be Euthenized because they are physically and mentally destroyed. What a Evil,Vile industry this is...
Lizard - 25-Sep-21 @ 5:35 PM
Testing animals is the most cruel act. Testing animals must stop.
Anty - 29-Dec-20 @ 3:21 PM
Yeet my boys, welcome to alabama, Gucci pigs are my favorite things to make love with. kass kass Cheers Süsseldentist
Süsseldienst - 11-Nov-20 @ 7:33 AM
In regards to animal testing by the MoD medical equipment mainly field dressings and celox gauze is tested on live animals that have been rendered insensible and are then shot or lacerated to show the effectiveness of the dressings. The animals are not, thankfully subject to pain but they are euthanized afterwards. Body armour helmets and ammunition is tested on deceased animals and the impact is recorded on a computer. This method is rare due to the use of ballistic soap. From an chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear perspective most weapons have unfortunately been tested on humans by states such as China Iraq and former USSR states so animal testing is not required. Another point about the MoD the bear skins and leopard skins sometimes worn by ceremonial units are over 150 years old. This is not me condoning hunting but I would like to put peoples mind at ease about the use of such things by the Mod. I have served for 15 years and would never condone any cruelty or testing on animals. I am also not alone in my thoughts and would never stand idly by as any animals were to be tested on or teated cruelly. Any direct order to the contrary would be an illegal order and would be the statutory right of any service man or woman not to obey it
Das - 27-Oct-20 @ 7:14 PM
Animal experimentation is cruel, unreliable, and dangerous and needs to be banned everywhere because of its damaging consequences. Animal experimentation is cruel, unreliable, and dangerous and needs to be banned everywhere because of its damaging consequences. For many animals all around the world they are loosing lives due to animal testing. Animal testing for cosmetics and toiletries has long been banned in the UK, and as of March 2013, ingredients have been tested on animals have also been banned across the European Union. As a matter of this a huge step forward for remarkable countries . Unfortunately, in some countries China, for example China has a long history and a bad rap in the cruelty-free space of being one of the countries that require all imported cosmetics to be tested on animals. This means any cosmetic brand wanting to import and sell in China must consent and pay to have their products tested on animals by the Chinese government. This means that some businesses that were cruelty-free for years have turned their backs on their ethical pleads and started testing on animals in order to reach this lucrative market. Every year a 26 million un guilty animals are being used for animals, 13 million of these animals end up dying. Frogs, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs fish and mice are very commonly used for animal testing but the majority of animals used to test are dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, and birds. It’s estimated by the time our generation have grandchildren their pets will be the only breading sources for some of these animals. humans are able to give consent to be used in testing and are a viable option when the need arises. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic demonstrated that researchers can skip animal testing and go straight to observing how vaccines work in humans.  Animal testing is bad science. In my opinion animal testing isn’t just ethically wrong, but also very wasteful.  It’s difficult to take results from experiments on animals and apply them reliably to humans, because we’re differentphysiologically, biochemically, metabolically, and so on. according to a big animal rights organisation PETA, “Harvard’s Wyss Institute has created “organs-on-chips” that contain human cells grown in a state-of-the-art system to mimic the structure and function of human organs and organ systems. The chips can be used instead of animals in disease research, drug testing, and toxicity testing and have been shown to replicate human physiology, diseases, and drug responses more accurately than crude animal experiments the would be a more ethical way to go about animal testing. Researchers are working on building computational models (algorithms) which can analyse huge amounts of research data and make predictions on how certain products can affect living organisms. No living creature is put in danger. he Australian Department of Health is against cruelty to animals. It is going to ban testing cosmetic products on them. R
lex - 5-Jun-20 @ 1:51 AM
Pure and total propaganda - brainwashing ethics out of children is wrong and so is animal torture
animals - 29-May-20 @ 11:44 AM
i forgot to put my email 8552537@student.cms.k12.nc.us
cev - 11-Sep-19 @ 12:47 PM
Animal testing is definitely terrible, but I would like to find a university either in they u.s. or the u.k that doesn’t use animal testing. Is there a way to find university’s that don’t test on animals or do all of them use it?
Mady - 26-Jul-19 @ 6:14 PM
It has always horrified me that there are any humans capable of personally acting in a manner that is visibly and audibly causingan animal to suffer.Such behaviour shows a dangerous lack of empathy. There is no doubt in my mind such people are quite deranged -there is obviously something profoundly wrong with anyone who can witness blatant suffering of an innocent being and just keep on doing that.No one will convince me otherwise.
Misime - 20-Apr-19 @ 12:00 PM
They need to stop animal testings. It is very mean. They are getting abused. They don't deserve it
Brooklynn - 12-Apr-19 @ 2:05 PM
I have some great points from a research paper I am doing.
Dr. Bowling - 11-Apr-19 @ 5:45 PM
Animal testing is horrible and should be stopped they don’t deserve it
Uncle jim - 26-Feb-19 @ 4:37 PM
I'm writing a paper for school about animal testing and this is definitely helping me.
Alia - 5-May-17 @ 11:25 PM
We are also doing a paper and this is very helpful. Thank you
damia - 6-Feb-17 @ 7:54 PM
ALL animal testing that causes pain to a living sentient being should be banned. Animal testing is nothing more than sadistic torture that yields no worthwhile results. Anyone inflicting pain on an innocent helpless being is committing crimes against nature in the name of science. It is already a well-established fact that there are methods that involve no need for using animals in experiments that are accurate and effective. The Physicians Committe on Responsible Medicine knows this, as do many places in the US (and abroad) that have given up this barbaric practice by butchers in white coats with no hearts and souls who could care less about the screams and cries of animals.
Yada - 18-Dec-15 @ 3:38 PM
cruelty and torture are pretty with a well worded bow on top.
Claire - 16-Jul-15 @ 3:38 AM
Very helpful for my research paper on the benefits and ethics of animal testing!
ur mom - 17-May-15 @ 9:00 PM
I am doing a project at school about the pros of animal testing
Mandy - 14-Nov-14 @ 3:10 PM
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