"I am not dumb enough to believe that if there is a way other than animal testing, it would not be used"- A friend of mine
As most of you probably know I´m working in sciences. To be more exact the field is experimental tumor research. One of the things we have to do is animal testing. Why? Because you need to create a environment where the conditions are the same as in an human body. Since human testing is forbidden you have to use something that is as close as possible: Animal testing. Right now there are people working on "Bio-reactors" something that has the same conditions as a living body, but this is still in its infancy.
How does the process of handling animals for testing work? (I only know it in Germany, it might be different in other countries)
First you have to send a contract to the government stating the following things:
You will get regular visits where your mouse facility is checked, and if something is wrong you only get one chance to fix it, if you haven´t fixed it by the next visit it will be shut down.
I consider this already pretty good when it comes to ethical treatment of animals.
Now there are companies like PETA who says EVERY testing with animals is wrong. I agree that in some parts of the world animals are treated very bad (if you genetically modify animals in Japan, you are no longer allowed to sell them. That´s their whole paragraph about animal testing...) but taking action in most NA and European countries does not make much sense. For those who are opposed to animal testing I compiled a nice paragraph for an "Advance directive for health care" inside this spoiler that you can feel free to hand out to anti-Animal testing people:
As most of you probably know I´m working in sciences. To be more exact the field is experimental tumor research. One of the things we have to do is animal testing. Why? Because you need to create a environment where the conditions are the same as in an human body. Since human testing is forbidden you have to use something that is as close as possible: Animal testing. Right now there are people working on "Bio-reactors" something that has the same conditions as a living body, but this is still in its infancy.
How does the process of handling animals for testing work? (I only know it in Germany, it might be different in other countries)
First you have to send a contract to the government stating the following things:
- What experiment do you want to do?
- What is the possible result of this experiment?
- How many mice will you use for it?
- What is the burden your animals will have to bear (for example: open wounds, cancer and so on)?
- Is it possible to do a preliminary study with a small amount to see whether the result can be expected or not?
You will get regular visits where your mouse facility is checked, and if something is wrong you only get one chance to fix it, if you haven´t fixed it by the next visit it will be shut down.
I consider this already pretty good when it comes to ethical treatment of animals.
Now there are companies like PETA who says EVERY testing with animals is wrong. I agree that in some parts of the world animals are treated very bad (if you genetically modify animals in Japan, you are no longer allowed to sell them. That´s their whole paragraph about animal testing...) but taking action in most NA and European countries does not make much sense. For those who are opposed to animal testing I compiled a nice paragraph for an "Advance directive for health care" inside this spoiler that you can feel free to hand out to anti-Animal testing people:
If I become ill in any way shape or form I do not want to be treated with any chemical, drugs or techniques that has been tested on animals, this includes but is not limited to:
- Any drugs that was licensed in the last 100 years
- Life-Support-machines
- Surgery