Medical Testing on Animals-

Every year, nearly 100 million animals die in research

laboratories at the hands of curious scientists who perform outdated

and inaccurate tests that prove no benefit to humans or animals.

Before these animals die, they are routinely burned, scalded,

poisoned, starved, given electric shocks, addicted to drugs, subjected

to near freezing temperatures, dosed with radioactive elements, driven

insane, deliberately inflicted with diseases such as cancer, diabetes,

oral infections, stomach ulcers, Syphilis, herpes, and AIDS. Their

eyes are surgically removed; their brains and spinal cords damaged,

and their bones broken. The usage of anesthesia is not mandated by

law, and consequently, thus is rarely administered. Despite all of

this cruelty, not a single disease has been cured through vivisection

in this century. The overall adult cancer rate has risen in the past

40 years and a fatal heart attack strikes a person every 45 seconds.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 70-80% of the common

diseases killing Americans are preventable given a responsible diet

and lifestyle. Drug testing on animals is inaccurate and does not

benefit humans or animals at all. Animals including, but not limited

to, dogs, cats, mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rhesus

monkeys, imported primates, owls, deer, sheep, llama, and cattle are

commonly used for vivisection. Vivisection is the medical term for

the practice of experimenting on animals. Charles River Breeding

Laboratories, a company owned by Bausch and Lomb, provides 40-50% of

the animals used in experiments of laboratories. The other remainig

misfortunate animals come from places a little closer to you and me.

Some of them come from animal shelters, some come from the "free to

good home" ads in the classified section of the newspaper, some from

unsuspecting people who allow their companion animals to become

pregnant, or even worse, some have been stolen directly from their own

front yard. Imagine your pet one day being crammed into a cage with

ten other animals waiting to die like approximately 20-100 million

other animals do each year in numerous unreliable tests.

More than 205,000 new drugs are marketed worldwide every year,

most after undergoing the most common unreliable test method still in

use: animal vivisection. The current system of drug testing places

consumers in a dangerous predicament. According to the General

Accounting Office, more than half of the prescription drugs approved

by the Food and Drug Administration between 1976 and 1985 caused

serious side effects that later caused the drugs to be either

re-labeled or removed from the market. The following drugs passed

safe in animal experiments but proved tragic consequences in humans:

Opren: 3500 people suffered serious side effects including damage to

skin, eyes, liver, and kidneys. Thalidomide: Caused about 10,000 birth

defects worldwide Clioquinol: Caused 30,000 cases of blindness and/or

paralysis and thousands of deaths

Conversely, many drugs that are beneficial to humans are

dangerous or even fatal to animals:

Penicillin: An antibiotic to humans, but kill's guinea pigs.

Aspirin: Caused birth defects in rats, mice, monkeys, guinea pigs,

cats and dogs, but not humans.

This is obvious proof that testing on animals is unreliable, but

sadistic tests still go on every day. The Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine reports that sophisticated non-animal research

methods are more accurate, less expensive, and less-time consuming

than traditional animal based research methods. Fewer accidental

deaths caused by drugs and treatments would occur if stubborn

bureaucrats and wealthy vivisectors would use the more accurate

alternatives such as:

1. Cell and tissue culture in vitro.

2. Microorganisms and other species of little or no capacity

for pain or suffering.

3. Computer models to answer questions and guide animal

research.

4. Fewer animals used per study.

5. Less poorly planned work.

If animal experimentation was eliminated, it would free up 6.8 billion

dollars that could be used for education programs and medical

assistance programs for low-income individuals; helping the more than

30 million U.S. citizens who cannot afford health insurance, rather

than making animals sick.

There will be nearly 275,000 animals dead this time tomorrow

that were not dead right now. The numbers are real and this happening

in our world every day only because it is a multibillion dollar income

for some people and is legal in the U.S. The National Institutes of

Health, the world s largest recipient of funds used for research, must

be pushed to fund more preventative programs and human based research.

The problem that we are faced with today is not a difficult one to

fix. The technology is available for us to use and we should take

advantage of our advanced alternate methods.