The Reality of Animal Testing

   In this post, I would like to learn the current basic information about animal testing in relation to the research question I posted before.

    

  First of all, according to Wikipedia, animal testing is the process of testing a potentially dangerous chemical or device on animals before applying it to humans. So why are experiments on animals used as a first step to experiments on humans? This is because animals have life principles similar to those of humans. For example, in medical research, in order to produce any results based on scientific evidence, it is necessary to study how the organs, cells, and other components of the human body work. The results from those studies should also be carefully examined to determine how the new drugs and scientific technologies will affect the human body. Many of those studies require the use of living organisms and research and testing on humans are also conducted. However, research using humans naturally has its limitations, so they have no choice but to sacrifice animals for their experiments. Just as humans eat animals as food, animals are helping to provide a part of human life.

     Then, what kind of animals are often used for experiments? As many people might expect, rats and mice make up about 90% of the animals used, and many other animals such as frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and birds are also used for experiments. The type of animal used depend on the purpose of the experiment. For example, animals with short life cycles are used to study aging and genetics that require lifelong or multi-generational observation, while medium-sized animals (dogs, pigs, etc.) that are similar in size to humans are used to develop surgical methods and study organ transplantation. In Japan, it is common to purchase animals raised for research purposes from traders and use them for experiments. As for dogs, cats, and monkeys, they sometimes take over some of the animals that would otherwise be killed. Each year, more than 115 million animals are killed all over the world for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. When using animals in research, researchers will make every effort and take care to treat them humanely and avoid causing them pain. Still, some are forced to inhale toxic fumes, others are immobilized in restraint devices for hours, some have holes drilled into their skulls, and others have their skin burned off or their spinal cords crushed. And at the end of the experiment, most of those animals are euthanized.

     I realized that animal experiments have contributed greatly to the development of human life, but I still felt that it was cruel. I will continue to learn more about the reality of animal testing in my next post.

Facts and Statistics About Animal Testing. (2021, May 19). PETA. https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/

動物実験について | 日本生理学会. (2009, June 20). 日本生理学会. http://physiology.jp/guidance/4804/

From an Animal Perspective

  I want to live a "normal" life, just like you humans. We are treated as if we were born to be experimented, even though we were not born of our own choice. Since we can't speak, we can't communicate our thoughts to the people conducting the experiments. To tell the truth, I don't like pain and I don't want to be kept locked in a lab forever. I want to be free to go where I want and eat what I want. And yet, I'm always fighting the fear of dying at any moment for the sake of humans.

  But if we can help humans, then I feel that all the hard work we have done in the laboratory has not been wasted. If we are destined to be used for research anyway, it seems better that we are rewarded by being useful to someone or something. 

  But still, I don't want to be a victim of violence, and I can't stand to see my friends suffering next to me. We know that our experiments have benefited many humans, but we are not their "instruments.” I always hope that other methods will become more popular and that fewer animals will be harmed by animal testing.

From a Swiss researcher's perspective

  Switzerland, where I live, is said to have some of the strictest animal protection laws in the world. For example, for social species like guinea pigs, rabbits and parakeets, Swiss law requires that they be kept in pairs, at least. 

  According to Swiss law, animal testing is allowed only if there are no alternatives. Therefore, in order for me to experiment with animals, I need to ensure that I follow the 3R principle: replacement via alternative methods, reduction of the number of animals used, and refinement to make methods more humane. Nevertheless, as many as 500,000 animals, mostly rats, are still used for experiments in Switzerland, and a vote to ban animal and human experimentation is expected to be held next year in 2022. 

  But of course, we researchers are not doing animal experiments to harm animals. Animal testing is very useful when developing and using new raw materials for which there is no existing safety data. We need to collect new safety data before we sell our products, which is why we conduct animal testing. It is painful for me, too, to use animals as tools for experimentation, but they give us a lot of discoveries when we create something new.

  I know there are now many alternatives to animal testing. However, it is also true that animal testing is a practice that has been around for many years in many industries, and cannot be easily abolished. In addition, the development of alternative methods that do not use animals has not been a priority until now, and although progress has been made steadily, we have not yet reached the stage where all alternative methods can be used.

  I want to protect animals, but I still need to experiment on them to make my products… 

How well are Swiss animals protected? (2020, February 6). SWI Swissinfo.Ch. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/animal-welfare_how-well-are-swiss-animals-protected-/45489148

Farlymn, M. (2019, April 2). 化粧品の動物実験について. Humane Society International. https://www.hsi.org/news-media/about_cosmetics_animal_testing_japanese/

From the perspective of a person who belongs to an animal rights organization

 I am against the use of animals for experimentation. Needless to say, it is too cruel for animals. For example, if a drug that is not yet safe for humans is to be tested, it will be done with great care and a lot of money, but when it comes to animals, they are not treated as carefully as humans, but rather as if they were disposable tools. Animals think and feel pain just like humans do, so why can't we guarantee them the right to live the same as humans? 

  Besides, animal testing is inefficient in that it requires a lot of money and time. Animals are often used to test things for human use, but even though they are similar in structure, they are a different species, and the results from animal testing may not be completely applicable to we humans. For example, in vivo (Latin for "within the living”) testing uses approximately 115 million animals every year globally, and only 59 new medicines were approved by authorities in the year 2018. Moreover, animal testing takes months, years, and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide results. Considering these factors, I don't think animal testing is efficient.

  Furthermore, I believe that animal testing is not accurate. Some studies have shown that the chance of a match between human and animal test results is only 5% to 25%. Also, even if an animal experiment is successful, there is a 90% chance that the following experiment on humans will fail. On the other hand, some animals suffer from serious side effects that humans don't experience. Why should we insist on animal testing if it's not accurate enough?

  Advancements in science and technology have made suitable alternatives available. Recently, some companies have been testing their products on synthetic cellular tissue that resembles human skin instead of animals. Other new alternatives to animal testing are being developed, such as 'Eyetex', 'In vitro testing' and 'Organs on chips'.

  I hope that the cruel methods of using animals as test subjects in experiments will be replaced by other more productive and efficient methods.

P. (2020, March 25). 5 Reasons Why Animal Testing Should Ban Worldwide. Tampa Bay News Wire. https://www.tampabaynewswire.com/2020/03/25/5-reasons-why-animal-testing-should-ban-worldwide-85113

30 Research Questions on Animal Testing

 These are some of the questions I have about animal testing now and would like to learn more about through this blog!

1. Why do they test on animals?
2. What is animal testing used for?
3. What kind of people do animal testing?
4. Do people who conduct animal testing need to be qualified?
5. How much animal testing is currently being done?
6. How many animals are killed by animal testing?
7. How long has animal testing been done?
8. Is animal testing changing from what it used to be?
9. Is animal testing absolutely necessary?
10. Do humans have the right to experiment on animals?
11. How much of the results of experiments conducted on animals apply to humans?
12. What kind of animals are used for animal testing?  Why are these animals used?
13. How do they select their target animals?
14. What do they do with the animals used in the experiments?
15. What are the benefits of conducting experiments on animals?
16. What are the disadvantages of conducting experiments on animals?
17. How many countries in the world have banned animal testing?
18. In countries where animal testing is banned, what are the alternatives?
19. In countries where animal testing is not banned, is it possible to replace it with some other method?
20. Why do organizations that still conduct animal testing stick to animal testing?
21. Which animals are used in animal experiments the most? 
22. Why use different kinds of animals for experiments instead of specific animals that resemble human structures?
23. Isn't animal testing against the law?
24. What considerations do they give to animals when conducting animal testing?
25. Are there any principles or rules for conducting animal testing?
26. What are some organizations that oppose animal testing?
27. What kind of activities are carried out by organizations that oppose animal testing?
28. What is being done internationally to reduce animal testing?
29. Is there a possibility that animal testing will be completely eliminated in the future?
30. What can we do to protect the rights of such animals?

Introduction to this blog

  In this blog, I will focus on the reality of animal testing in the world today and its future. I became interested in this topic when I saw on the TV news that many animals are abandoned and some end up being killed, which made me question animal rights.

  Animal testing may not be familiar to many people, but there are more products made from experiments done on animals than we imagine. While animal testing can help us in our daily lives, I think the animals subjected to the experiments are "used" for the benefit of humans.

  I will update this blog every week to learn more about and discuss the reality of animal testing.