Why should animal testing not be banned?
There is currently some research being carried out into ageing and Alziemers disease. The scientists are using flies because the maximum they can live is about 40 days so a drug can be tried on a 3 week old fly and it’s effects studied over days. If you tested on people you would have to wait years to see how effective the drug is long term. In 2006 6 healthy men went to take part in a drug trial for a monoclonal antibody. Within hours they became ill with for suffering multiple organ damage and one being in a coma for 2 weeks. Without animal testing we would either have no new drugs or put people at risk on a regular basis. Not all animal testing is cruel. Rats need mental stimulus. If you have a pet rat you should have ‘enrichment’ activities, this is similar to putting a rat n a maze as you would in a lab. I have a cat. Occasionally I will give her different food, or a piece of ham to see if she likes it. That is an experiment but it is not cruel.
