Animal testing

Animal testing, also called animal experimentation or animal research, is when scientists use animals to answer questions about health and science. This research happens at places like schools, hospitals, and medicine companies. It can be to learn how living things work or to find ways to treat sicknesses.

Research with animals has helped us learn a lot about how our bodies work. It has led to big advances like helping stop polio and making organ transplantation possible. Important discoveries such as how insulin helps people with diabetes came from studying animals. Many medicines and tools doctors use today were also developed this way.

Animal testing is used when testing on humans isn’t possible or would be wrong. Scientists pick animals that react in similar ways to humans. This helps them learn about diseases without hurting people. Even though results from animals don’t always work the same in humans, many important medical advances have come from this kind of research.

Many animals are used in research every year around the world. Mice and rats are the most common animals used. Rules about animal testing are different in different countries. People are talking a lot about the ethics and necessity of animal testing. Scientists are also looking for other ways to test, like using computers, that might not need animals.

Definitions

The terms animal testing, animal experimentation, animal research, in vivo testing, and vivisection all mean using animals to answer scientific and medical questions.

"Vivisection" means cutting into a living animal. Some people who oppose animal testing use this word for any kind of experiment on living animals. Scientists usually say "animal experimentation".

This section talks about research using animals. It does not include veterinary surgery on animals.

History

Main article: History of animal testing

The earliest references to animal testing are from the writings of the Greeks in the 2nd and 4th centuries BCE. Aristotle and Erasistratus were among the first to do experiments on living animals. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Antoine Lavoisier used a guinea pig to show that respiration is a type of combustion. Louis Pasteur also showed how germs cause disease by using anthrax in sheep.

Using animals for research has helped many advances in medicine. It has helped us learn more about human physiology and biochemistry. It has also helped in areas like neuroscience and infectious disease. For example, this work has helped almost get rid of polio and led to the development of organ transplantation, helping both humans and animals.

Model organisms

Main article: Model organism

Scientists use animals called model organisms to learn how living things work. These animals help us understand health and disease. Some common model organisms are small creatures like fruit flies and nematode worms. These animals are easy to care for and live quickly, which makes them good for many tests. However, because their bodies are different from ours, they can only tell us a little about human health.

Other common model organisms are small animals like mice and rats. Mice are very popular because they share many genes with humans and can help study diseases passed down in families. Dogs, especially beagles, are also used in research to study heart and bone diseases. Zebrafish are small fish used to study cancers and other diseases because they are easy to care for and share some similarities with human cells. Monkeys are sometimes used to study diseases like AIDS and brain research, but their use is very carefully controlled.

Care and use of animals

Regulations and laws

See also: Animal testing regulations, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes

Rules about using animals in labs change depending on where you live and what kind of animal is involved. In the U.S., special groups called Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) help make sure experiments are done the right way. They also try to find other ways to do the research without using animals. The U.S. government checks these rules to help protect the animals.

Numbers

It’s hard to know exactly how many animals are used in testing around the world. Some guesses say about 100 million vertebrates are used each year. In the U.S. alone, more than 800,000 animals were used in 2016. This includes animals like dogs, cats, and monkeys, but not mice and rats, which are also used a lot. The numbers have changed over time, with fewer dogs and cats being used now.

The Three Rs

Main article: Three Rs (animal research)

Scientists try to make animal testing more ethical by following three important ideas called the Three Rs. Replacement means finding ways to do research without using animals at all, like using computers. Reduction means using as few animals as possible and getting the most information from them. Refinement means making sure any animals that are used feel as little stress or pain as possible. These ideas help make animal testing better for both the animals and the science.