medical charities - support compassion, not suffering

8/9/2019 Medical Charities - Support Compassion, Not Suffering

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Medical Research

NOT SUFFERINGSUPPORT COMPASSION

Medical charities play

an important role

when it comes to

human health, yet

manyof them, including

Cancer Research

UK, the British

Heart Foundation,

theAlzheimers

Society and

Parkinsons UK,

conduct or fund

invasive research

on animals.

However, there is

a better way.


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CANCERCancers are induced

artificially in animals. This

maybe done byexposing

them to radiation or

cancer-causing chemicals,

injecting themwith

tumourcells, oraltering

an animals genetics.

Theresulting tumourscause great

suffering and are,in anycase, markedly

different from natural human cancers. In

addition, animal responses to carcinogens

can be veryunlike our own.For example,

thelink between smoking and lungcancer

wasfirst observedin people, butalmost

alleffortsover 50 yearsto producesmoking-relatedlung cancer in animals

failed. Consequently, vital health

warnings were delayed for many years.

Given thisbackground, it is hardly

surprising thatanimal responses to

potential cancer therapiesalso differ

from those in humans.The influential US

National Cancer Institute admits that

valuabletreatmentshave probably beenlostdue to animal experiments.

Experimentsoften involve cuttingopen

healthydogs chests and damaging

their hearts. In onerecentstudy,

researchersadministered a drug

supposedly to simulatea disturbance

of the heartrhythmseen inhumans.

Other drugs were then tested fortheir

ability to restore normal rhythm.

A condition called ventricularfibrillation

is a type of disturbance ofheartrhythm,

anda commoncause of suddencardiac

death in humans (where theheart

unexpectedlystops beating).Pigs and

dogs hearts areconsidered thebest

model for studyingthis ailment, and

yetthe artificially induced ventricular

fibrillation in themappearsto be

significantlydifferent fromthe condition

in humans.

eart disease in humans is

ftencaused by cholesterol

eposits onarterywalls, which

an lead to clogged blood

essels andheartattacks. It is

irtually impossible to

eproduce this in dogs, andyet

hey are frequently used for

eart research.

Whilemostbrain disorders

are uniquetohumans,

monkeysarefrequentlyused

in shocking experiments

aimedat understanding

andseeking a remedy for

Parkinsons disease and

other neurological

conditions.

A typicalexperiment involves injecting

destructive chemicals into monkeys

brains,thereby causing brain damage in

an attemptto recreate thesymptomsof

dementia. Different treatmentsmay then

be trialled to assesstheir effects. However,

Lewy bodies,a generally recognised

markerfor thediseasein humans, are

eithernot seen, or only very infrequently,

in theaffected brain regionsof primates.

And, whilstParkinsons becomes

progressively worse in humans,the

chemically-induced marmoset version

demonstrates gradual recovery. As the

conditions are caused artificially,

studyingthemcan,in any case,tellus

little of direct relevance about the cause

and progression of thedisease in people.

Non-invasive research thatis specific

tothe humanbrainis neededif any

real progressis tobe made with these

disorders.

HEARTDISEASE

BRAINDISORDERS

PETA

Notonly is animal research harmful toanimals, it is alsopotentially harmful topeople.

Drugs that are shown tobe safe inanimals may later prove tobedangerous inhumans,while valuable cures and treatments can bemissed if they fail in animal tests.


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Stopping animal experimentswill not mean an

end to scientific progress. Using non-animal

methods allowsus toobtain data that is more

accurateand relevant to human health and,

therefore, more likely to lead to effectivetreatments. There aremany such alternatives

to animal testing, withmore being developed

all the time.

MRI, CAT and PET scans allow non-invasive

yet detailed analysis of human organs

particularly useful for Alzheimers and

Parkinsons research.

Human DNA, cells, and donated tissue and

organs can be used to analyse disease

processes and test new therapies.

Microdosing allows tiny amounts of

experimental drugs to be tracked in the

human body.

Computer modelling can be used to predict

how drugs will work and what effect they

will have.

Clinical observation of patients and the

study of human populations can yield

valuable information about human disease.

Autopsy studies can reveal why people died

and allow doctors to observe the outcome

of different treatments.

It is also important to focus on education

and disease prevention, as well as better

health care for those who are already ill.

WHATYOUCANDO:

ABETTERWAY

Donate only to those charities

that do not conduct or fund

animal experiments. Contact

Animal Aid at info@animalaid.

org.uk or 01732 364546 for an

up-to-date list.

Contact those charities that are

involved with vivisection and ask

them to reconsider their policies

for the sake of both animal and

human health.

Write to your MP and ask that the

government invests more moneyin developing and implementing

non-animal research methods.

Consider donating part of your

body to be used for research after

your death, and help reduce the

number of animals used. Contact

Animal Aid for more information.

ARS

Animal Aid The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1AW Tel: 01732 364546

Email: [email protected] Registered in the UK as Animal Abuse Injustice and Defence Society. Companynumber 1787309

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