Animals Save Lives

Animals Save Lives

Suppose a family member was suffering from a disease and the doctor announced that thanks to animal research they are coming close to finding a cure. Would it then be acceptable to experiment new drugs and treatments on animals, even if it meant death for the animal? This is a controversial issue, which has many divided as to whether animal testing is a good or bad thing. The vast majority of animal research is; however, devoted to finding curse for human disease. Obviously, in animal research the animals are subjected to many tests, which may cause pain and even have long lasting negative effects. Moreover, animal research is vital to the medical field.

Through animal research many cures for humans have been discovered. Animal research became widespread in the late 1800’s and has continued up into today (RDS). Because of this research dozens of vaccines and antibiotics have been discovered and new advancements such as open-heart surgery have been perfected. Animals are used in research and testing when it is necessary to see what happens in the whole living body, where the use of human subjects would not be ethically acceptable (Biomedical Models). Most often animal research is very important in discovering new treatments for diseases and cannot be replaced by computer generated models. One of the best-known medical discoveries is that of insulin, which saves almost 500,000 American, lives each year (Chang). Many more discoveries have been made thanks to animal research and testing.

There have also been many breakthroughs and advancements within the psychology field, because of animal research. Psychologists do research on animals in this field to study the animal’s behavior and central nervous system. Through understanding how the nervous system works doctors can then begin to understand more about the complex behaviors humans may exhibit (APA). According the American Psychological Association, “Animal research has been the major contributor to the knowledge of the basic learning processes and motivational systems, such as hunger, thirst, and reproduction. Also animal research has provided critical information about the sensory processes of vision, taste, hearing, and pain perception.