Before any new treatment is tried in humans, we will need data from animal studies to ensure it is likely to be effective and to help us understand what the side effects are likely to be.
It is not just medicines that need to be tested to make sure they are safe. Diagnostic tools such as scanners, and implants such as heart pacemakers or artificial hips, are safe and effective only because they were developed and tested in animals. Many surgical techniques, such as open heart surgery and heart transplants, rely on methods and equipment that were developed using animals.
New medicines require testing because researchers must measure both the beneficial and the harmful effects of a compound on a whole organism.
A medicine is initially tested in vitro using tissues and isolated organs, but legally and ethically it must also be tested in a suitable animal model before clinical trials in humans can take place. The animal tests provide data on efficacy and safety. They not only identify potential safety concerns, but also determine the doses which will be given to volunteers and patients during the first human trials.
Testing on animals also serves to protect consumers, workers and the environment from the harmful effects of chemicals. All chemicals for commercial or personal use must be tested so that their effect on the people and animals exposed to them is understood.
The chemicals that we use day-to-day can accumulate in the water, ground or air around us, and their potential impact on the environment must be researched thoroughly. Why Animals are Used Animals are used in research when there is no other way to do the science. There are four main reasons why animals are used in research: To improve our understanding of biology Fighting disease — in both humans and animals — depends on understanding biological processes which are sometimes very subtle and complex.
Read more Read less. Stanford researchers are obligated to ensure the well-being of animals in their care, in strict adherence to the highest standards, and in accordance with federal and state laws, regulatory guidelines, and humane principles.
They are also obligated to continuously update their animal-care practices based on the newest information and findings in the fields of laboratory animal care and husbandry. Researchers requesting use of animal models at Stanford must have their research proposals reviewed by a federally mandated committee that includes two independent community members. We at Stanford are dedicated to refining, reducing, and replacing animals in research whenever possible, and to using alternative methods cell and tissue cultures, computer simulations, etc.
What are the benefits of using animals in research? Stanford researchers have made many important human and animal life-saving discoveries through their work. Why Animal Research? The approximately million people in the United States keep about million dogs and cats as pets. More than 5 billion animals are killed in the United States each year as a source of food. Animals are used for transportation, for sport, for recreation, and for companionship. Animals are also used to learn more about living things and about the illnesses that afflict human beings and other animals.
By studying animals, it is possible to obtain information that cannot be learned in any other way. When a new drug or surgical technique is developed, society deems it unethical to use that drug or technique first in human beings because of the possibility that it would cause harm rather than good.
Instead, the drug or technique is tested in animals to make sure that it is safe and effective. Animals also offer experimental models that would be impossible to replicate using human subjects. Animals can be fed identical and closely monitored diets. As with inbred mice, members of some animal species are genetically identical, enabling researchers to compare different procedures on identical animals.
Some animals have biological similarities to humans that make them particularly good models for specific diseases, such as rabbits for atherosclerosis or monkeys for polio. The polio vaccine was developed, and its safety is still tested, in monkeys. Animals are also indispensable to the rapidly growing field of biotechnology, where they are used to develop, test, and make new products such as monoclonal antibodies.
Researchers draw upon the full range of living things to study life, from bacteria to human beings.
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