Cosmetic Research vs. Medical Research
Lifesaving, medical research is the only qualification where regulated animal testing is ethically okay. There is a difference between using animals to test beauty products and using animals to help find cures for diseases like cancer. First, one must look at all of the progress that science has made through animal testing. This progress is listed below, and includes multiple vaccines for diseases that were thought to be incurable. The process of using animals in medical research is different than using them in the cosmetic field because it can often times be necessary and save the lives of millions of other humans and animals. On the other hand, cosmetic animal testing is not enforced by the law, it is not regulated, and does not result in positive effects for the science world. In a perfect world, alternative tests, such as using donated human cells, would eliminate animals in the laboratory everywhere. In reality, there are times where the use of an animal-based test is a necessity. Frank Gannon, author of Animal Rights, Human Wrongs? explains, "Most scientists who work with cell lines know that they are full of chromosomal anomalies; even cells from the same line in two laboratories are not necessarily biologically identical. Cell-based tests also have other limitations: they assume that the cell type in which side effects manifest is known; that there are no interactions between different cell types that are found in many tissues; and that culture conditions adequately mimic the whole organism. Even if cell-based tests could replace animal-based tests, there are still no alternative methods available to test for teratogenicity or endocrine-disrupting activity, which require animal-based tests over several generations. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that cell and tissue cultures can sufficiently replace animals in the short term."
Sean O'Neill, author of Why Animal Research Is Still Necessary states, "Almost every major medical achievement has relied on animal testing at some stage in the process. Insulin, which now provides life saving treatment for those with diabetes, was once tested on animals, as were the polio vaccine, lithium and penicillin." In fact, before 2006, 71 of the Nobel Prizes for Medicine were awarded to scientists who used animals in their research. The United Kingdom based website, Pro-Test: standing up for science, tells us that the use of animals in medical research has not benefited humans alone, unlike the use of animals in cosmetic research. Farm animals, household pets, wild species and endangered species are all benefiting from the research conducted through animals. There are vaccines for rabies, distemper, tetanus, and numerous other illnesses in cats, dogs and countless other domesticated animals. Cats now have a treatment for Feline Leukemia. The lists of benefits also includes:
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Smallpox (cow): The vaccine against smallpox was derived from the cowpox virus used by Edward Jenner following his observation that farm workers who contracted cowpox were protected against smallpox - It has now been eradicated from earth (BENEFITS).
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Polio has been eradicated from North America and people in countries all over the world are being successfully treated thanks to testing done on mice and monkeys (BENEFITS).
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Insulin, tested on dogs and fish, is now able to help control diabetes (BENEFITS).
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There are vaccines for tetanus (horse), rubella (monkey), anthrax (sheep), and rabies (dog, rabbit) (BENEFITS).
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An understanding of the Malaria lifecycle (pigeon), tuberculosis (cow, sheep), Typhus (guinea pig, rat, mouse), and the function of neurons (cat, dog) (BENEFITS).
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Vivisection was also crucial in the discovery of anti-blood-clotting drugs for the treatment of haemophilia (cat), penicillin (mouse), open heart surgery and cardiac pacemakers (dog), lithium (rat, guinea pig), treatment for leprosy (armadillo), organ transplantations (dog, sheep, cow, pig), laproscopic surgical techniques (pig), and a drug for AIDS treatment (monkey) (BENEFITS).
