Medical experiments on animals

After the last lecture, I have been thinking what topics I should cover. I decided to
write about a controversy we are all witnesses the medical experimentation on
animals. This controversial issue calls for debate and better awareness of the public.
So, my presentation is about the horrors of medical experimentation on animals,
mainly for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry.

The American agency that controls, regulates and approves medicinal and
pharmaceutical products (FDA, Food and Drugs Administration) stimulates and
encourages manufacturers to apply testing of their products on animals. Safety of
drugs, medicines and pharmaceuticals is tested on daily basis on a million of animals
in various forms of experimentation. The most notorious tests are so called Draize
and LD-50 tests, which measure toxicity levels. The animals, most used in
experimentation, are mice, pigs and rabbits.

Draize eye test was named after the American toxicologist John H. Draize. The test
follows the following protocol: chemical drops are applied to the eyes of restrained,
conscious animal, usually albino rabbit or even a dog. The applied chemicals cause
terrible pain, bleeding and finally, the blindness. After the experiment, the test animal
is euthanized and dissected to check the effects on internal organs. There is also a
Draize skin test, where chemicals are applied directly on shaved skin of a
restrained, immobilized animal. These tests are designed to detect side effects of
cosmetics, like sunscreen cream, for example. This cruel experimentation is usually
performed without any anesthetics and causes terrible pain for the test animals.

LD-50 test is used to measure toxicity of substances. A tested animal is forced to

swallow, inhale or take chemicals in some other way. The test is over when 50% of
tested animals are dead and the rest of them are euthanized. Medical students often
perform vivisection of alive animals, dissecting the still alive animals, usually frogs
and dogs.

In Croatia there is no law to prevent such cruel medical experimentation on animals.

We only have a law that regulates animal welfare. This law does not forbid
experiments on mice, cold-blooded animals or birds. Also, animal starvation,
electroshock, skin burning etc. are not forbidden, as long as performed in a clean
laboratory environment. Improvements or less cruel experiments are considered too
costly.

Countries like Denmark and Sweden have a ban on animal-tested cosmetics. The
European Union has not introduced such restrictions for political and economic
reasons. However, there have been no great medical discoveries based on animal
experiments so far.
Less than 2% of human diseases are found in animals. Animal testing provides
results of only 5-25% similarity to human results. These results are influenced by
animal food and their comfort in lab testing environment. Due to physiology
differences, animal tests can not be compared to humans. Moreover, 61% of birth
malformations in newborns are caused by chemicals that passed animal testing. At
least 50 drugs on the market can cause cancer in animals. There are reverse
reactions, too. After successful animal testing, the hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES)
was used as synthetic non-steroidal estrogen to reduce pregnancy complications.
Instead, it caused uterine cancer.

Many worldwide known pharmaceuticals like L'Oreal, Nivea, Colgate, Gillete,Pliva

use animals for product side effects testing. Do you remember their marketing
slogans like ''Because I deserve it!', ''Best for me'' etc? Are these animal-tested
products really best for humans? Are they best for the tested animals? What can we
do to help? The AVON company stopped animal tests when customers boycotted
their products and their sales went down 10%. It is a small step, but a great hope for
the future. It also requires very little effort. Cosmetics are not worthy so that animals
are tortured and killed for such purpose. Today, we have Internet access to white list
of products, not tested on animals.

It's sad to see that the old proverb THE MIGHT IS RIGHT is still true. Animal testing
does not help better safety of consumers. It does not guarantee that such products
are safe. In order to stop animal testing, the public and animal protection
associations must voice their disapproval.

Animals can suffer and feel pain, too. They are not expendable supplies. Animal
experimentation is cruel and barbaric. Animals do not need guns, drugs, alcohol. It's
stupid to burn an animal just to prove that some tool or mechanism can do it.

I believe that animals are not needed in testing at all. Test can be conducted through
computer stimulation or three-dimensional projections. For students, observation
should be the best method of learning. Committees and professional panels should
determine if experiments are indeed so valuable to justify animal torture. We all can
contribute to pressure on commercial companies by choosing only products labeled
not tested on animals.

Thank you for your attention!