By: Lime Green Giraffe Event Director, Ally W.
Testing on animals has happened for centuries. Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Erasistratus tested on animals as far back as 384 BC. There was a rise in animal testing in the early 1990’s. As time goes on, the rates of animal testing has decreased.
As you can see from the chart above, there was a high in 1992 when the greatest number of animals were used in testing. Since then, I believe, there has been major progress in the number of animals used for testing. Though these is progress, 17-22 million animals are still used for testing each year. This is near the human population of the Netherlands at 17.2 million.
Alternatives to Animal Testing
You might be wondering without animal testing how we learn if a product is safe. There are many ways we can do this. Our technology has been rapidly advancing recently. According to the PETA website, alternatives to testing on animals can be tested using human cells and tissue, computer technology and human volunteer testing.
Human cell testing is done with something called an “organ-on-chips.” “Organ-on-chips” have been made to replicate the human responses to drugs and diseases. This is used to help test products such as drugs, toxicity research, and disease research.
Scientists have made computer options for testing, creating models that clone the human system. Computer options like these can help to see what reactions could look like in the human body.
Lastly there are human volunteers. Doctors use micro-dosing, inserting very small amounts of a drug into the body, to see reactions of how a drug acts in a body. They also get images of people’s brains to safely experiment, replacing the testing on animals such as cats, monkeys and rats.
Another widespread practice for medical study is human simulators. These are lifelike machines that give medical and nursing students practice on cutting into “flesh.” This replaces the need for pigs, goats, and dogs. A human simulator can even simulate bleeding, breathing and lifelike internal organs.
How You Can Help
As you can see from the information above, there are many alternatives to animal cruelty. As time goes on, more research is done to find simple and effective options to test products.
You can also help as well.
Donate money to organizations that use the funds to help animals.
The less products you buy that have been tested on animals, the more likely the companies will need to change their processes. I believe if a company sees thatf their products are not being bought anymore because of animal cruelty, then they will want to stop testing on animals.
Finally, sharing accurate information on animal cruelty will help greatly. You can hand out flyers, make presentations and peacefully protest what you believe in.
Citations:
In Vitro Methods and More Animal Testing Alternatives. 15 Mar. 2021, www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/.
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