Animal Testing Research Paper

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Animal testing is “the use of non-human animals in research and development projects, especially for purposes of determining the safety of substances such as foods or drugs” (Dictionary.com). Animal testing happens every day in labs all over the country. It happens in private facilities, government laboratories, non-profit facilities and university laboratories. Private facilities have an endless list of product tests including drugs, cosmetics, cleaning chemicals and shampoos. Government laboratories rely on government funding, are often medically or environmentally based and focus on getting rid of some of the most deadly diseases. Non-profit facilities focused on improving public's health through their research and use of animal testing.…show more content…
Animal testing has contributed to many cures and treatments. "Nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals.” (California Biomedical Research Association) Illnesses such as post traumatic stress disorder and strokes now have forms of treatment because of animal testing. During the post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research monkeys and rats were given PTSD. The animal tests showed that by reducing high norepinephrine levels, the activity in the prefrontal cortex can be restored and the overactivity of the amygdala can be decreased. The laboratory that found a treatment for strokes gave rabbits small strokes and then tried tpa on them so that the blood clot in their brain would decrease and it worked. Another reason animal testing is beneficial is animals are appropriate research subjects because they are similar to human beings in many ways. Chimpanzees share 98% of their DNA and mice are 92% genetically similar to humans. All mammals, including humans, are descended from common ancestors, and all have the same set of organs that work the same way. Our hearts, kidneys and lungs are all very similar to other mammals, and they mostly all react the same way. They can also get a lot of the same illness such as heart disease, cancer, strokes and diabetes. Lastly, animals have much shorter lives than humans so if they die during testing, they wouldn’t have had that much more of a life anyway. Mice live for two to three years, worms live for four to eight years, rabbits live for seven to ten years and flies live for around thirty

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