What do you think of using animal models in biomedical research?

what you suggest then, for research to improve medical treatment?

i think we can find altwenatives to the research.idk just the thought of hurting animals for our benifit kills me!!

alternitives

There are times when we have to use animals for research…unfortunately, they get used many times when it’s completely not necessary. That I can’t do.

I will say that many of the dr.ugs they now have for humans were tested on animals, and those same dr.ugs are now helping animals as well. My dog takes Prazosin, a alpha inhibitor for men with enlarged prostates (don’t laugh)…for dogs with urinary spasm problems it is a life saver.

Thats pretty much what I think too. I cant see anyway to improve healthcare without animal research, but it should only be carried out when the benefit outweighs the harm. The animal ethics commitee at my uni are really strict on this, and will not approve any animal study where they cant see any real benefit in the study

You pretty much answered this. I hate the thought of using animals. But when you’ve got people who have got illnesses like cancer, well you have to realize that it saves lives. As long as the IRBs are keeping a check to see that the benefits outweigh the harm I guess for now it is the best we can do. When it comes to product companies (makeup etc), that’s a whole other issue.

I think using animals to test products like makeup is horrible!

It is horrible. But people have done horrible things in the name of science, to other people at that. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Milgram Experiment, etc, so for companies to use animals to make money isnt exactly surprising. It’s interesting how people rationalize and justify the things they do. Especially when money is involved.

animal research has progressed tremendously since the 60’s and 70’s when researchers had no respect for animals. today, there are very strict rules (called the IACUC) that protects the animals. regardless, if a test agent is injected into mice, that mouse will be killed to see how the test agent behaved. the only difference is that today they make sure the mouse is well anethesized before killing them. a mouse that is about to be killed is done following a series of procedures to ensure that the mouse does not feel its execution. its still sad, but if you want to cure diseases, you have to kill animals.