Animal

Testing
Before we start, let’s share
opinions about animal
testing!
Outline

● What is animal testing?

● Why test on animals?
● Why should we end animal testing?
● Environmental impacts of animal testing
● Alternatives to Animal Testing
● Why are alternatives to animal testing better?
 What is Animal
Testing?
An animal test is any scientific
experiment or test in which a live
animal is forced to undergo
something that is likely to cause
them pain, suffering, distress or
lasting harm.
 ● A physician in 2nd-Century Rome
● Known as the “Father of Vivisection”

Claudius Galen

● An Arabic Physician in 12th Century

● Also known as “Father of Experimental
Surgery”

Avenzoar
 Zebra Fish
Rabbit
Animals used in testing and research

Cow

Rat

Cat

Mouse

Primate
Hamster
Dog Guinea Pig Trout Fish
Why do we test on animals?

● Fundamental research
● Genetically modifying animals
● Testing for regulations
Animal Testing
Activities
● Exposing animals to radiation
● Surgically removing animals’ organs or tissues to deliberately cause
damage
● Injecting or force feeding animals with potentially harmful substances
● Forcing animals to inhale toxic gases
● Subjecting animals to frightening situations to
create anxiety and depression
 Why we should end animal testing?
Cruel The animals languish in pain, suffer from extreme
frustration, ache with loneliness, and long to be free.

The complete lack of environmental enrichment and the stress of their

living situation cause some animals to develop neurotic types of behaviours
such as incessantly spinning in circles, rocking back and forth, pulling out
their own fur and even biting themselves.
Wasteful
1. More than 90% of basic scientific discoveries, most of which are from
experiments on animals, fail to lead to human treatments.
2. NIH admits that 95% of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in
tests on animals fail in human trials because they don’t work or are
dangerous.
3. 89% of preclinical studies, most of which involve animals, could not be
reproduced.
4. Experiments on animals divert time and funding from better methods.
5. A possibility of drugs that can help humans but are discarded because of a
failure on animal testing.
6. Non-animal methods are available.
Human Medical Breakthroughs
● Important clues relating to insulin therapy actually came much earlier from
observations of human patients.
● Alois Alzheimer first described the main features of Alzheimer’s disease in 1906 by
studying brain segments from patients after they had died.
● Human population studies led to the discovery that smoking causes cancer. Smoking
does not cause cancer in mice and rats.
● An Australian doctor used himself in an experiment to discover the main cause of
stomach ulcers.
● A German chemist tested the effects of aspirin on himself after an accidental discovery
that it helped relieve pain in a patient with toothache.
● The anaesthetic effect of laughing gas was discovered when someone accidentally cut
their leg while under the influence of the gas. An American dentist then confirmed the
effects on himself while having a tooth removed.
Environmental impacts of animal testing

Resources used in Waste production Sources of

animal research in laboratories pollution
The quantity of energy Millions of animal bodies Incineration
consumed by research animal Bedding, Caging, Needles Animal waste runoff
facilities is up to ten times and Syringes
greater than offices on a
square meter basis

A wide range of chemicals

Impacts on Laboratory Biodiversity
Workers’ Health Impacts
Asthma, Allergy Numbers of monkey decline
Laboratory Acquired Infections(LAI) Genetically modified animals
Herpes B, Ringworm escape
 Three Rs
Reduction

Refinement

Replacement
➔ Relative
➔ Absolute
Alternatives to Animal Testing

➔ In Vitro Testing
➔ Computer (in silico) Modeling
➔ Research with Human volunteers
➔ Human tissues
In Vitro Testing
● Comes from latin term “in glass”
● Refers to studies of biological properties
that are done in a test tube (glass vessel)
rather than in a human or animal
In Vitro Testing
➔ Organs-on-chips created by Harvard’s Wyss Institute
➔ Can be used in disease research, drug testing and toxicity testing
➔ Drug responses more accurately than crude animal experiments
In Vitro Testing
In Vitro Testing
In Vitro Testing
Computer (in silico) Modeling
● Also known as computer modeling
● Allows you to stimulate behaviors on a computer
screen
● Can conduct virtual experiments
● Using computers help researchers to visualize and
predict what the human response will be to a specific
drug or substance
 Research with
human volunteers
● Microdosing
● Using functional magnetic
resonance imaging(fMRI) for
brain imaging and recording
● Human-patient simulator
Human Tissues
● Donation from human volunteers through biopsies, cosmetic surgery
and transplant
● Can provide a more relevant way of studying human biology and
disease than animal testing
● Human tissues can also be used after a person has died
 Why are alternatives to animal
testing better?
Environmental A combination of chemistry and cell-based
Friendly alternative methods accurately predict human
Less time consuming and reactions 90%
cost effective Crude skin allergy tests in guinea pigs only
predict human reactions 72%
Using reconstituted human skin is
up to 86% accurate A cell-based alternative (EST) has 100%
accuracy at detecting very toxic chemicals
Notorious Draize skin irritation test in
rabbits can only predict human skin Standard test on pregnant rats to find out if
reactions 60% chemicals or drugs may harm the developing baby
can only detect 60% of dangerous substances
 Organisations Against Animal
Testing

Coalition for Consumer

Information on
Cosmetics (CCIC)
People for the Ethical
Center for Alternatives to
Treatment of Animals
Animal Testing
https://www.peta.org/
https://caat.jhsph.edu/
 Cruelty-free Products

Leaping Bunny by CCIC PETA Bunny

https://www.leapingbunny.org/
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016413001096

https://www.peta.org/blog/experiments-on-animals-fail-90-of-the-time-why-are-they-still-done/

https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/arguments-against-animal-testing

https://faunalytics.org/animal-research-an-environmental-perspective/

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/#:~:text=These%20alternatives%
20to%20animal%20testing,and%20studies%20with%20human%20volunteers.

https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/human-organs-on-chips/#:~:text=4%2F7%20The%20Organs%2Don,that%20mimic%2
0organ%2Dlevel%20physiology.

https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/alternatives-animal-testing#:~:text=Alternatives%20are%20better&text
=But%20using%20reconstituted%20human%20skin,at%20detecting%20very%20toxic%20chemicals.

https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/types-animal-testing

https://www.elle.com/uk/beauty/make-up/articles/a31152/11-cruelty-free-makeup-brands/

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/5-awesome-organizations-fighting-to-end-animal-testing/
Thank You!

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