Madison Ries

Dr. Angela Mitchell

UWRT 1104

31 October 2017

Animal Testing

Animal testing is the research conducted by scientists to test how a product or an

environment will affect a specific type of animal. To predict different safety variables and

effectiveness for medical and cosmetic products, animals have traditionally been involved in the

testing. According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, more than one

hundred million different kinds of animals are killed in different laboratories each year for the

sole purpose of testing cosmetic and medical products. Is there not a better way to conduct

research on products and chemicals that does not harm animals or humans? Thanks to new

research, the development of alternative methods is growing. Scientists have developed many

new testing methods that have shown to lead to more effective products and drugs and not

depend on animal testing. These new methods include: in vitro testing, computer models and

simulations, Microdosing, microfluidic chip testing, and Imaging studies.

When buying a cosmetic product at a store or a drug from the pharmacy, one does not

usually consider the fact that this product might have been tested on animals. Little do you know,

if this said product was tested on animals, the testing conducted was most likely harmful to the

animals, whether it takes their lives or not. Animal testing can cause the animals physical pain

and it can cause them psychological distress. It is said that 50 percent of adults in the United

states oppose animal testing. The other 50 percent believe that it is necessary for medical

progression (Experiments on Animals: Overview). There are alternative methods to animal

testing that are developing that people need to consider because of their benefits. Some of these

benefits of alternative methods are that scientific methods are often more reliable than testing on

animals, non-animal testing is cost efficient, more predictive, practical, and cruelty free products

are more environmentally friendly (Animals in Science / Alternatives). There are three different

types of alternative testing, replacement using non-animal methods; reduction in the number of

animals used; or refinement of the experimental design and methods to reduce pain and distress

to animals. It is important to understand that a test can still use animals and be considered an

alternative test (Animal Testing and Alternatives).

One type of alternative method to animal testing is in vitro testing, which means test tube

testing. This type of testing uses methods and models based on human cell tissue and cultures.

In-vitro testing actually saves money for companies who use it, sometimes thousands of dollars

for each study that is conducted (COST COMPARISONS: ANIMAL TESTS VS. IN VITRO*

ALTERNATIVES). It is used to test new chemicals and products on human skin or cells of

compatible animals; it is toxicology testing. Scientists take tissue samples from either animals or

humans and prepare them for laboratory study. The main limitation to in in-vitro testing is that it

limits the result to a cellular level and cannot replace whole-body testing (Alternatives to

Animals). According to the organization Cruelty Free International, skin allergy tests that have

been performed on guinea pigs have proven to only predict human reactions 72% of the time,

where cell-based alternative methods have show to accurately predict human reactions 90% of

the time (Alternatives to Animal Testing). This is a small piece of evidence proving that cell-

based alternative methods have had a much higher percentage accuracy.

Another type of alternative method is using computer models and simulations. This type

of testing is already used for automobile crash testing, heart studies, and modeling the effects of
new medicines. This is a method that uses virtual metabolism programs, human organs, and

other math based and computer based approaches to study the human body structure, fractions,

and reactions. There are already computer models of the heart,kidneys, lungs, skin, and digestive

and musculoskeletal system that can be used to conduct virtual experiments based on already

existing information and mathematical data (Alternatives to Animal Testing). The only

limitation to this type of testing is that these simulations usually need to be tested on animals to

be confirmed (Alternatives to Animals).

Microdosing is another alternative method of animal testing. Microdosing is where

humans are given very low quantities of a drug to test the effects of the drug on a cellular level.

This method allows humans to be safely substituted for animals in some drug testing.

Microdosing gives humans a high enough dose of a drug to cause cellular effects, but too low of

a dosage to effect the entire body. The only limitation of this method is that it is considered the

earliest phase of the clinical drug trial, and this is known as phase 0. Animal testing with the full

dose of the drug is necessary to determine its safety and efficiency for drug approval

(Alternatives to Animals).

Another alternative form of animal testing is microfluidic chip testing. This type of

testing is used to study biological and disease processes, and drug metabolism. Microfluidic

chips contain samples of tissues from different parts of the body that are linked by microchannels

through which a blood substitute flows, mimicking processes and pathways in the body.

Compared to in vitro testing, this method provides more complex information (Alternatives to

Animals). These chips have the ability to simulate several different body organs, such as

kidneys, heart and liver, and observe the experiments results on them. So in essence, this man-

made chip is the test subject.

 Imaging studies is another alternative method of animal testing. Image studies is a wide

range of technologies used for seeing inside the body. This includes magnetic resonance imaging

(MRI), functional MRI (FMRI), positron emission tomography ( PET), and single-emission

computed tomography (SPECT). This method is used to observe the effects of drugs in the body,

studying brain function and structure, and studying brain and other neurological disorders. The

limitations of this type of testing is that it cannot reveal all drug effects in the body (Alternatives

to Animals).

Human testing is the final alternative to animal testing. May people are willing to be a

test subject so that they can receive free medications and medical care during their study. Some

people participate for financial reasons, others do it because it is their last hope to treat a disease

that doesnt have a cure. Sometimes patients can get medicines that dont have FDA approval

this way. Post mortem human testing has greatly contributed to Alzheimers research. Also,

post-mortem brain tissue has provided important leads to understanding brain regeneration and

the effects of Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons disease(Alternatives to Animal Testing).

All of the alternative methods stated above can and will help to stop the use of animal

testing in labs. The only problem is that there are two sides to this. There is a side that will

continue using animals as test subjects due to lack of technology or funding to make the

necessary laboratory changes. Then there is another side, like the animal protection group PETA,

that is against the usage of animals as test subjects, regardless of any reasons. What needs to

happen for these methods to become the new standard for animal testing is for scientists to

support and adhere to the new methods. Also, these methods will require scientists to become

more affiliated with the change. Scientists are currently used to testing on animals without a

problem. If researchers start using these new methods, it would take more time to test products at
first, because they would be required to learn how to properly and professionally use these

methods.

In conclusion, animal testing is used all around the world. It has been going on for

hundreds of years, so it is not likely that this type of testing will come to a complete stop in the

next few years. It will take a long time before this practice is completely obliterated, but with all

of the new methods being developed, the hope is that it will be completely wiped out within the

next decade. It is ethically wrong for a living creature to spend its entire existence in a cage

being subjected to painful or harmful experiments. If researchers utilize all of the aforementioned

alternatives, animal testing will be greatly reduced if not eliminated altogether and companies

will save thousands of dollars off of their bottom lines.

 Sources:

Alternatives to Animals. Ethics of Medical Research with Animals,

animalresearch.thehastingscenter.org/facts-sheets/alternatives-to-animals/.

Alternatives to Animal Testing. Cruelty Free International,

www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/alternatives-animal-testing.

Animals in Science / Alternatives. In Testing, www.neavs.org/alternatives/in-testing.

Animal Testing and Alternatives. What Are the Alternatives to Animal Testing - Are
They Viable?, www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Animal%20Testing/Qs-
Alts2Testing.htm.

COST COMPARISONS: ANIMAL TESTS VS. IN VITRO* ALTERNATIVES.

http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/animals_laboratories/cost_animal_testing.pdf.

Experiments on Animals: Overview. PETA, www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-

experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/.