why do scientists test on animals

Question: why do scientists test on animals
- Keywords:
  animal testing
Asked by animals to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 29 Jun 2012.
- Emma Trantham answered on 29 Jun 2012:
  
  Thanks for asking such a good question animals.
  
  This answer might be quite long I’m afraid.
  
  Scientists use animals in their research to try to understand how our (and other animals’) bodies work, what goes wrong when we/they get diseased and whether a new treatment will work or not.
  
  Most of the animals used in research are rodents (rats and mice) which may look very different to us but because they are mammals they are in fact biologically actually very similar. This makes them good models for the processes that go on in our bodies.
  
  Animals are only allowed to be used when they have to be because they are the only way of finding something out.
  
  Without the animal research that has been done to date we wouldn’t know much of the biology that we now know and we would have hardly any drugs.
  
  We need to carry on doing animal research because there is still a lot more to learn. There are still lots of processes and diseases that we don’t understand. We also use animals to test for drug safety (although for every 1 animal a drug is tested on it will be tested on 15 humans) and this is compulsary. A drug cannot be used in humans unless it is shown to be safe in animals first. At the moment we don’t have any way of testing these drugs and doing this research without using animals.
  
  Animal research in the UK is very strictly regulated (which is a good thing).
  
  As I said it can only be done if it *has* to be done and researchers must show that they have complied with the ‘Three R’s’ of animal research, that is:
  
  -Reduction: scientists must use the minimum of animals possible
  -Replacement: scientists must use other techniques instead of animals wherever possible
  -Refinement: the experiment must be made so that the animals will be as comfortable as possible (this might include pain relief, it might mean providing an animal with more nests to hide in)
  
  In fact, I don’t know any animal researcher who doesn’t care about the animals they use and so they would follow all of these rules even if they weren’t legally required.
  
  Animal research is hugely important to improving our knowledge about both our and other animals’ bodies in health and disease.
  
  There is a really good website aimed at school children that talks about animal research and covers some of the myths you may have heard about it here: http://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/schoolzone/
  
  If you have any other questions about animal research, or if you don’t think I’ve made it clear enough why scientists test on animals then please do ask more questions below or using the ASK button
- Michael Cook answered on 29 Jun 2012:
  
  I really like Emma’s answer here (she’s talked about it elsewhere too – check out the other questions in the zone about animals). As she says, experimenting with or on animals is really important, and it teaches us a lot about the world. It saves millions of lives a year, just from the advancements it has already contributed towards!
- Blanka Sengerova answered on 29 Jun 2012:
  
  There was much talk about animal research in this morning’s live chat – I am very grateful to Emma for having taken the time to write out her well thought out answer to your question as it covers pretty much all the important points about why animal research is really important.

Question: why do scientists test on animals

Comments