History of Animal Testing At A Glance

The history of animal testing includes many debates which continue to rage on. The benefits of animal testing are touted as including an increase in consumer safety, as any negative interactions during animal testing save consumers form injury. When there are negatives reactions in animals during testing, products are changed or eliminated.

The benefits of animal testing may in fact include a decrease in danger for consumers. In addition animal testing arguments include the fact that many new medical treatments have been developed as a result of animal testing. In many cases, human testing is not conducted until extensive animal testing has been conducted to rule out the potential for negative side effects and other consumer dangers.

Often times, when new drugs are developed, there is a very long process involved before the drug reaches the consumer. Human trials never begin until after there has been extensive testing performed, usually on animals.

Pharmaceutical companies argue for animal testing in order to provide humans with a longer life expectancy. The argument for animal testing includes the fact that new cancer treatments and other life saving measures, have been developed as a result of animal testing.
In addition to the development of new drugs, many dangerous drugs may have been prevented from reaching the market as a result of animal tests.