paenriquez lr final

8/10/2019 Paenriquez LR Final

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Animal Research: A Review of Literature

Pablo Enriquez

University of Texas El Paso


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Abstract

Animal research is a famous controversy that has been argued over for centuries between

various groups of people. This Review of Literature is built off of three questions I have

generated for research on animal testing. The first question (How does Animal Research affect

Society?) introduces the importance of what this kind of research has done for the society and

how it has the medical and science field what it is today. The second question (How efficient is

Animal Research?) discusses some arguments as to why some people think that animal research

is not reliable. This section also introduces some topics such as ethics, the 3Rspolicy, and

examples of common arguments among different groups of people on whether animal research is

efficient or not. The third question (How do research groups receive funding to perform their

research?) is information on some methods people, scientists, and research groups use to receive

funding.


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Animal Research

Ever since the start of history humanity has learned how to survive by conducting

experiments or in other words trial and error. Over time as humans became more intellectual

these experiments became more sophisticated, experiments that attempted to find answers to the

major issues of the time in history they were taking place. The most common type of experiment

was the Animal experimentation. As time went on new foods were discovered or created, new

methods of sanitation were developed, and new diseases and epidemics were encountered. The

advancement of technology, medicines, culture moved at such a fast pace that experimentation

was vital for the progression of the human race.

As it has been for a while, it is one of the biggest controversies that is argued back and

forth by many for the past century. One of the big controversies on this topic is should animal

testing be used for scientific and/or commercial use? As well as animal testing advanced and

progressed over time it has also become highly disapproved by large amounts of society. Many

believe that it is not justifiable, against religion, unethical, etc. Though opposing sides have

always argued with what animal testing has brought to the table. The controversy I will be

speaking about in this document is Is animal testing justifiable? and viewing this controversy

can be better looked at by answering the following questions:

1.

How does animal testing affect society?

2. How efficient is animal testing than testing on humans?

3. How do research groups get funded to perform their research?


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These questions are in regards to some of the most common concerns and questions asked by the

general public, and will help to better understand why it is pursued, what it has done, and how it

has been done. The primary research used to fulfill this document comes from survey results

done on the general public and by one biology major student, and observations made from online

debates, articles and videos.

How does animal testing affect Society?

It would not be completely factual if animal testing was said to be the cause of the current

status of bio medics and human health, although it has played a major role in the advancement

throughout history. Animal testing has been around almost as long as humans have, and spread

out across the enormous timeline of history are events, some of which are good examples of

when these tests have been useful as well as other times are not so good.

In the early years of animal testing dating back to late 1500s and early 1600s a man named

William Harvey conducted what must have been the most successful Anatomical Exercise of his

time, Harvey conducted experiments on various animals to provide an accurate description of

blood circulation and heart function. This opened the door to new studies on the human body,

how the circulatory system works, and new ideas of medicines and medical procedures. It was

studies and experiments like this that grew overtime and eventually lead to where bio-medics and

medicine stand today. In The Proud Achievements of Animal Research an article by the

foundation for biomedical research, it states that Animal research has played a vital role in

virtually every major medical advance of the last century for both human and animal health.

Almost everything in this world that has to do with the human body, whether it is medicine,

medical procedures, or even shampoo, has been seen through animal experimentation for safety.

According to the results on a survey I conducted, when people hear this statement the most


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common reactions from the surveyors are that the animals are suffering and dont deserve it,

animal testing is wrong and is not justifiable, and animal testing is not reliable because it is

not the same as a human body.

There are many universities, research groups, and organizations that conduct animal

testing and would disagree to the suffering of animals during these tests. Professor John Stein

from the Oxford Functional Neurosurgery Group for example would be one to disagree with this

claim as he states on his visit to the popular television show on the B.B.C Network The Big

Question. Stein responds to the question Is animal testing justified by agreeing that animal

testing is justifiable for the improvement of medicine and treatments, Stein says that thanks to

the research done in our laboratory we were able to help people with Parkinson disease and

reading disorders by cooling certain areas of a monkeys brain (which he claims to be unpainful

due to the brain having no pain receptors).

As stated earlier that there are many others out there like Professor Stein that are

studying for the greater good of cures and treatments

for human diseases. The list of treatments, vaccines,

medical procedures and cures is exceptionally long,

some of which would be the first measurement of

blood pressure, vaccine for small pox and anthrax,

vaccine for rabies, discovery of pathogens of

tuberculosis, insulin, regulation of cholesterol, organ

transplant and much more and as time goes on the list

continues to grow. According to the articles observed Society has benefited greatly from animal

experimentation, one can look at the past and see that it has helped humanity overcome major

Photo depicting the early years of

animal experimentation and the

different reactions from by standers.


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diseases like small pox, anthrax, tetanus, the black plague, and even increase the lifespan of a

human. Only about a hundred years ago the average life expectancy was to the age of 50 or 60,

today there are people exceeding a hundred years of age and it is all thanks to the impact of new

medicines and living habits that society lives by generated from animal testing.

How efficient is animal testing than testing on humans?

This question also resulted in a great deal of debate among my interviewees and online

articles. Those opposed to animal testing in general argued that since the bodies of animals are

different than the bodies of humans, any result acquired from tests would be inaccurate and a

waste of time, money, and resources. Another argument again by those against animal testing

argued that a great portion ofpeople in todays world take supplements, vitamins, medications

and therefore since animals dont really follow these samehealth precautions it would be another

reason for an inaccurate result. Those who are for animal research argued that the body system as

a whole in another animal are different than human body systems. Although certain organs and

body functions of certain animals are very similar to those of individual human organs. Such as

Professor Steins research with monkeys, humans and monkeys have similar brains so Stein was

able to disable a part of a monkeysbrain to see the effects on its ability to read which helped

create treatments to stimulate that certain area of the brain on humans. Though in my

observations of the online debates and articles the crowd that is against animal research usually

consists of animal activists, priests and foundations pertaining to wildlife while the crowd on the

agreeing side usually consisted of scientists, researchers, and people of high reputation.

One of the major concerns in animal research was the ethics taken place during these

experiments. Back in the 1500s when it first began, experimentersdid not really have much

consideration for the test subjects well-being, they were just interested in what they could


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discover from them. According to the article A Historical Perspective, Pasteur(A professor in

chemistry with interests in Biology in 1848)

identified causing agents of diseases such as

anthrax, streptococcus, and chicken cholera. Pasteur

did so by infecting numerous animals as well as

inflicting surgical wounds to test antiseptic

techniques and disinfectant products. No person

would have participated to be a test subject in an

experiment after knowing or seeing how these tests

were conducted. Which is why scientists or those seeking knowledge in diseases turned to

animals, as said in the article A historical Perspective it is much more efficient to study what

we can on animals than it is to sit and wait on human participants.

Although ethics has improved over time, it has led to an increase in the amount of

animals used in laboratories each year. The article Ethical and Scientific Considerations

Regarding Animal Testing and Researchtalks about a principle emphasized by William Russell

and Rex Burch, called the 3 Rs. The 3 Rs signify Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement

of animals in the animal research area. According to this article estimates suggests that over 100

million animals are used each year world-wide in animal studies. The 3 Rs serve as guidelines

for the ethics and those conducting these experiments, to hope that one day animals will be

reduced, refined, and replaced.

How do research groups get funding?

There are a few ways for a university or organization to receive funding for their

research, when it comes to funding it is pretty much how well the company or group can

Photo signifying animal vs. human in

animal testing.


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Conclusion

The advancement of the Science and Medical Field has benefited enormously from

Animal Research and has also been a major help to develop many cures, medical procedures, and

medicines to fight many kinds of diseases and conditions. Animal research proves to be more

efficient than human testing, simple statistic shows that millions of animals are used for

experiments all around the world and close to zero humans ever participate to be a test subject

for any experiment. This is where ethics takes a huge role in animal research, since animals are

taken advantage of for these experiments there has to be boundaries made for researchers so that

there is some respect for the animals. The 3Rs policy (reduce, refine, and replace) was made to

one day completely eliminate animals from animal research and replace them with whatever is

able to provide reliable results. Finding a replacement for animals in this kind of research would

take a great amount of time, money, and people. There are many scientists and research groups

that attempt research projects but can only do so with funding from a source such as a company

or organization. Any researcher can acquire funding with the right exposure and the skill to

advertise his work to the community and to possible funders. While animal research has shown

its usefulness throughout the course of history, it will remain a method for research now and in

the long run until a reliable replacement is found.


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References

1. Knight, A. (2012). Bias During the Evaluation of Animal Studies?.Animals (2076-

2615), 2(1), 85-92. doi:10.3390/ani2010085

2. Ferdowsian, H. R., & Beck, N. (2011). Ethical and Scientific Considerations Regarding

Animal Testing and Research.Plos ONE,6(9), 1-4. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024059

3. Sun, S. (2012). The truth behind animal testing. Young Scientists Journal, 5(12), 83-85.

doi:10.4103/0974-6102.105076

4. Franco, N. (2013). Animal Experiments in Biomedical Research: A Historical

Perspective.Animals (2076-2615), 3(1), 238-273. doi:10.3390/ani3010238

5.

(2001). The Proud Achievement of Animal Research.Foundation for Biomedical

Research. , 6.

6. Anderegg, M.D., Ph.D. C (2006). A Critical look at animal experimentation. Medical

Research Modernization Commitee. ,

7. Youtube (2012). Is animal testing Justified?. The Big Questions. , .

8. National association to advocate for research funding of animal sciences.

(2012). Southwest Farm Press, 39(16), 14.


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Survey Responses

Sarah Valadez

1) animal testing hinders science and research from looking at alternative and maybe better

methods, for cures ect.

2) it's not as efficient

3) I dont agree with commercial use testing

4) If you have to test it on animals then that means it isn't safe enough for humans in the long

term

Benjamin Gandara

1) it does because it helps discover a possible cure for an illness humans are facing

2) it is just as efficient as testing on humans because anatomically we all have similar bodily

functions and reactions towards certain situations

3) I do not agree with animal testing, however, I do see it as a necessity to understanding new

discoveries in the medical field.

Adam Lara

1.) With animal testing we can set-up a control group allowing us to determine through research

what may or may not be the affects of an illness and see what drugs may help these symptoms goaway

2.) It is more efficient when it comes to testing, we breed animals in order to test on, allowing us

to gather more data frequently then having to wait on volunteers to do testing on, not to mention

if the results are fatal, it would very much put an end to the research project

3.) I do agree with animal testing. scientific use, commercial is just a waste

Chris Lazos

1.

Animal testing helps in researching and testing vaccines against harmful and deadly diseasesor infections.

2. Testing on animals allows researchers to see what effects a product can have on an organic

being similar to a human so that human testing is not needed which can cause harm to aperson.

3. Yes, I agree to animal testing, because testing on an animal is safer then risking a human

being's life. Yes for scientific use but for commercial I think there could be other ways oftesting commercial products such as beauty products


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Ashley Gonzalez

1) Since certain animals have genes close to ours, we can use animals to rest for products

and medication.

2) Animal testing is done as a trial to see the side effects of drugs or products before

being given to the general public. Human testing can be flawed, as some people sign upfor multiple clinical trials for multiple test studies on medication.

3) I do not agree where animals have to be tested as animals do suffer and feel pain. I do

not agree with animal or human testing

Joseph Dehart

Well animal testing affects society's ills by having thousands of pharmaceutical drugs out therethanks to the testing we have these drugs to treat for these diseases. Now yeah if you go PETA

on me than it is animal abuse and I do not agree with a bunch of the methods used for research

but it is kinda necessary for development of future medicine. For example a damn vaccine for

Ebola would be nice right now

Lydia Mora

1) Animal testing helps find cures for the new diseases we encounter every year.

2) I think it is very efficient. So far many medications have proven to be effective on peopleafter trying them on animals.

3) I do agree on animal testing. Because my husband was cured from cancer by trying a

medicine that had already been tested on animals. I agree with animal testing for

scientific use.4) Scientific

Jaime Enriquez

1) I guess in some ways it does help, because scientists discovered how to cure certain diseases by

studying and testing them.

2) When it comes to health animals are able to resist or recuperate better than humans and certain

animals create their own means of healing or curing themselves. As for house hold products it is

not efficient cause then you injure or kill the animal or even inhumanely torture.

3) I do not agree with it because there are better means of testing then these. Meaning instead oftesting on animals many companies are testing microorganisms.

4) For commercial absolutely not and only for certain scientific studies.


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Mariana Ponce

1.

Animal testing helps to create and perfect medicines that can improve diseases

2.

It is not more efficient because animals are not humans and they have different reactions to

things than humans do so it does not adequately represent how people would react to

substances

3.

No because from an animal standpoint it is unfair to potentially harm them physically for the

sake of humans and also only human testing can properly show how humans will handle things

4. Neither

Juan Isasi

1)

The effect is in favor of society because the progress of science has relied on the testing of

animals.

2)

The structure of the body of some animals resemble some of the body parts of a human and

therefore they use different animals for different experiments.

3)

I agree as long as ethics are taking into consideration.

4) Scientific

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