![]() |
Animal Testing |
![]() |
|
Animal tests are conducted all over the world causing horrific suffering to animals.
The majority of animals used for testing are rats and mice. Other animals used are hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, frogs, sheep and cattle. |
"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us.' Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.' Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction."
-- Professor Charles R. Magel |
|
|
The Animal Welfare ActThe Animal Welfare Act (AWA) is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport and by dealers. However, even though it covers "any live or dead dog, cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or any other warmblooded animal" it excludes among others "birds, rats of the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research".This means that the research industry can subject birds, rats and mice, which make up about 95% of all laboratory animals, to procedures and conditions that would be illegal for animals that are covered. |
Who Conducts The Tests?Most animal tests are conducted by:
|
|
|
Medical ProgressAnimal 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, because of the physiological variations among rabbits, dogs, pigs and humans for instance. |
Examples
|
|
|
Alternatives to Animal TestingThere are sophisticated non-animal research methods which are more accurate, less expensive and less time-consuming 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. |