I. Background on Lab Animal Experimentation

A. Information that has been consulted about these experiments

B. History of lab animal experimentation

IV. Conclusion: How the alternatives produce better results

Laboratory animal experimentation is performed to find cures for the ill and medicine to prevent illness. Sounds like a good idea to me. But have you ever thought of experimentation from the perspective of an animal? Put yourself in their shoes. Lets take it from the beginning. You are born in a laboratory, then bred in the laboratory, meanwhile being caged in the laborat

The first test is vivisection defined literally, is the dissection of living creatures (Senfeldeb 1). Giving laboratory animals chemicals and waiting for periods of time and then dissecting them to find out how harmful the chemical was to the animal. This continues until the scientist finds a safe amount of the chemical that can be used in consumer products. Vivisection is a type of biomedical Research that needs to be reformed into a preventative program instead of a costly research facility (Fox 77). " Many people today, including scientists and physicians, are questioning the suffering and killing of animals in the name of medical research. Congress receives more mail concerning the use of animals in laboratory experiments than on any other subject, according to Dr. Charles McCarthy, head of the Office for Protection from Research Risks at the National Institutes of Health. The mail runs 100 to 1 against the inhumane use of animals in research."(Fox 91) The United States government receiving mail about the killing of innocent animals, and do they do anything about it, no. It would save the lives of the innocent animals if we would use the research already known and use it for the experiments. It just doesn't seem to be right to give an animal a chemical that the scientists know full well will kill the animal. Why give an animal a chemical when humans are anatomically different and the chemical may have a completely different outcome on a human. Humans can have genetic disorders, environmental influences, and habits that affect the way the chemical may act in the human body ("Last Chance For Animals" 3). There are many alternatives to vivisection. However when you are talking about vivisection you are talking about biomedical research and most of this kind of research cannot be done in one experiment. So when using alternatives there may have to be more than one alternative combined with another to get a result (Orlans 74). One method that is being used today is in vitro, or in a test tube. Though the human body is so complicated that you have to combine this technique with others to receive a complete answer. Scientists could use cell or tissue cultures to perform their research, and in recent years there have been discoveries for illness' due to this type of experimentation (Orlans 75). Lastly in the technological age scientists have begun to use computers to stimulate systems and use the prior knowledge of animal and human anatomy to produce results.

All of this information is pertinent to this paper however none of it would have been possible if it were not for the anatomists that began their discoveries thousands of years ago. Laboratory animal experimentation began around 240 B.C. (Senfeldeb 1). Since then many experiments were founded to enhance the knowledge of the anatomy of all living creatures (Senfeldeb 1). Aristotle being the first known biologist is said to have found differences in the internal parts of animals. There continued to be discoveries in animal experimentation up until the medieval times when it was prohibited. Experimentation reappeared in the early 1500s and has continued to grow and is still growing today (Fox, Cohen, Loew 2). There are many types of laboratory animal experimentation, but the most widely known and used are vivisection, LD-50 (Lethal Dose Fifty Percent), and Draize tests.

The last type of test is the Draize test or most commonly known as the Draize Eye and Skin Irritancy Test. This test is administered to the animals either by putting a toxic substance on their skin or in their eyes. Rabbits are mainly used in this test because of their great sensitivity. The animals are placed in restraints and given the toxic substanc

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