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December 3, 2017

If there was no animal research, there would be no cure

Many people may not know this, but animal research has played an important role in almost every major medical advancement of the last century. The list includes antibiotics, blood transfusions, chemotherapy, dialysis, insulin, organ transplantation, heart bypass surgery, joint replacement, vaccinations, how a cancer gene works, new vaccines, and many more treatments that help stop suffering.1 These treatments are based on knowledge attained through research with lab animals. We have been able to learn and understand a great deal in the field of science and medicine through this testing; however, it has been at the expense of innocent animals. Although there are alternatives to animal testing, living organisms are very complex, and the only way to learn more is through research on other complex organisms that possess the same traits.

The many discoveries that have occurred, based on animal testing in the nineteenth century, have had a significant impact on how we live and view medicine. There are still a lot of questions, and even unknown questions in the field of science and medicine, that can benefit us in the same way they have in the past; therefore, animal testing should be continued for this purpose only. There are laws that protect animals and the amount that can be used and how they are treated to prevent cruelty. Many people who test on animals conduct their research with the obligation to keeping the animal safe. Their research uses as few animals as possible, and only when necessary, and in designed experiments that yield valid results and use the best possible methods and treatments.

Statistics of animal experiments | 2005 | Courtesy of European Commissions

Animal experiments were used in the discovery of anesthesia. Humphrey Davy demonstrated that nitrous oxide produced a reversible state of unconsciousness in animals. Through many trials, Davy led to the conclusion that animals could survive for long periods in an atmosphere of nitrous oxide mixed with air, and he consistently inhaled the gas himself. He noted on one trial that the gas actually relieved his toothache. In his book, published in 1800, Davy concludes: “As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.”2 Later on, in the 1820s, Dr. Henry Hickman continued the experiments a stage further by performing surgery on animals under a state of carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide. Hickman tried to interest the medical field in the possibility of preventing pain during surgery by inhalation of these gases. However, he was ignored. More than twenty years later, the dentist Horace Wells, under nitrous oxide anesthesia, had a wisdom tooth removed by his partner Riggs. The nitrous oxide was administered by Quincy Colton, who was a medical student making his living by exploring the effects of laughing gas on members of the audience at stage shows.3 Before the laughing gas parties or ether frolic in the 1840s, the work of perfecting general anesthesia was already in play and being tested on animals.

Banting and Best with a dog on the roof of the medical building | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Another critical discovery, very prominent in the lives of many today, is insulin. Studies using experimentally-induced animal models of diabetes were done to discover that insulin could be used to treat diabetes.4 The experiments began in 1921 by Frederick Banting and Charles Best. They began experimenting by removing the pancreas from a dog. The dog became thirsty, drank lots of water, and urinated more often. The dog became weaker and weaker. They found that this was due to the removal of sugars from the urine of the dog, whose pancreas had been previously removed, which is a typical animal model of diabetes. Experimenting on another dog, Banting and Best surgically ligated the pancreas, which stopped the flow of nourishment. This was so that the pancreas degenerated. After some time, they removed the pancreas, sliced it up, and froze the pieces in a mixture of water and salts.5 When the pieces were half frozen, they were ground up and filtered. The isolated substance was named “isletin.” This extract was then injected into the diabetic dog. Its blood glucose level dropped, and it seemed healthier and stronger. By giving a diabetic dog a few injections a day, Banting and Best could keep it healthy and free of symptoms.6 With continuing research, however, the extracts were found to be toxic. This caused a serious fever in both the dogs and diabetic patients. A biochemist named James Collip partnered with them and prepared insulin from the pancreas’ of cows and pigs. James Collip used alcohol to extract insulin, which produced several different protein solutions. He then needed to find out how much insulin was present in each solution. This was done by measuring their activity by injecting each solution into rabbits and monitoring their blood sugar levels. Collip developed a measure of activity based on the ability of the extract to lower blood sugar in the rabbit, which was used to standardize extracts. The three scientists, Collip, Banting, and Best’s extracts were used successfully in dogs and then in patients in 1922 with exceptional results. Millions today depend on this discovery, because insulin helps keeps blood sugar levels from getting too high or too low. Insulin regulates how the body uses and stores glucose and fat, and many of the body’s cells rely on it to take glucose from the blood for energy. It is very important and many people who have diabetes depend on this discovery.

Heart-lung machine | 1953 | Courtesy of Medical Discoveries

Moreover, like many medical advances, the making of the heart-lung machine depended heavily on animal research.7 The cardiopulmonary bypass pump, or heart-lung machine, can take on the role of the heart and lungs during cardiac surgery. Opening up a person and being able to operate on a heart is extremely difficult and requires precise movements. As with any surgery, any wrong move or wrong cut can cause severe damage and even death. The machine allows for blood to bypass the heart while surgeons work. It is attached to the veins that feed the heart and to the arteries that leave it, where it draws blood from a patient just before it reaches the heart.8 In 1931, John Gibbon began to investigate the possibility of building an external device that could do the job of the heart and lungs for a short period of time. The research initially began using cats and developing a machine that could replace the function of a cat’s heart and lungs for twenty minutes.9 Unfortunately, not many of the cats survived longer that twenty-three days after surgery. Gibbon’s World War II army service in the China-Burma-INBM Theater temporarily interrupted his research. The research then continued with dogs, where initially the survival rates were low. He used a new series of experiments with dogs in the 1950s, using IBM-built machines. The new device used a new method of cascading the blood down a thin sheet of film for oxygenation, instead of the original technique that could potentially damage blood corpuscles. These experiments revealed the need to add filters to the heart-lung device to prevent blood clots. The dogs began surviving and the heart-lung machine was eventually prepared for use in humans. In 1953, the first successful operation on a human, using the heart-lung machine, was performed. Cecelia Bavolek underwent an open-heart bypass surgery, where the machine totally supported her heart and lung functions for more than half the duration.10 Today, this machine, which was perfected through many animal experiments, is commonly used to do the job of the heart and lungs for many hours, allowing for complex cardiac surgeries to take place. This machine is also used in keeping patients alive during heart transplants, and supported premature babies.

Animal testing has helped researchers discover or improve drugs and treatments, which have improved health and medicine. As mentioned, many medical treatments that many people heavily depend on today have been made possible by animal testing. Scientists and researchers are, of course, not allowed to experiment on humans, so the other route to go is on animals. In fact, 71 of the Nobel Prizes for Medicine won in the last 103 years were awarded to scientists who used animals in their research. There is still a lot to learn in the field of science and medicine, so animal research is still necessary in order for there to be advances.

  1. Salem Press Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Animal Testing,” by Joel McClellan.
  2. R. Sharpe, The Cruel Deception, Chemical and Philosophical, The Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide (Johnson: London, 1800), 159.
  3. Thomson Guedes, The Self-trained pioneer Anesthesiology (JC, 1956), 93.
  4. Michael Bliss, The Discovery of insulin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 304.
  5. Subbroto Kumar Saha, “Recent Advances in Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery for Diabetes Mellitus Using Animals,” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 17, no. 2 (2016): 14.
  6. Nobel Media, February 2009, s.v. “The Discovery of Insulin.”
  7. “Animal Testing is crucial for science,” The Belfast Telegraph (Belfast, Northern Ireland 2016).
  8. Andreia Cristina Passaroni, “Cardiopulmonary bypass: development of John Gibbon’s heart-lung machine,” The Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 30, no. 2 (2015): 238.
  9. Andreia Cristina Passaroni, “Cardiopulmonary bypass: development of John Gibbon’s heart-lung machine,” Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 30, no. 2 (2015): 238.
  10. Walter Gomes, “The Brazilian Registry of Adult Patient Undergoing Cardiovascular Surgery, the Bypass Project,” Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 32, no.2 (April 2017): 73.

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Amanda Figueroa

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82 comments

  • Jose Fernandez

    I think this a great topic for an article! The title really caught my attention and it is very well written and structured. I didn’t know that tall those scientific discoveries and creations had been tested in animals in their development stage. I think this is a very sensitive topic nowadays. Maybe now we have the resources and technology available to avoid using animals to test our scientific projects. I guess I understand both points of view.

  • Damian Jennings

    I completely understand the authors point of view, but there was no overall solution provide in substitute of animals, how about humans? I believe testing on animals is more humane than testing on our own species. I support animal testing, but I do understand the opposing side, I wonder what their alternative is and how they would fund this research in a more “sane method.”

  • Rebecca Campos

    Animal testing is controversial subject and I understand the perspective that the author is portraying through this article. It is unfortunate that animals are one of the ways we test new drugs or products, but I don’t foresee that ceasing anytime soon. Most of the problems that arise with animal testing come when the animal testing is abused or causes unnecessary harm to these innocent creatures. That is the point when the issues really become to big to ignore and that’s when people are going to want the full liberation of these animals. Companies tend to forget that these are living beings and not just a test subject. Hopefully, that will change in the future.

  • Bictor Martinez

    It is really unfortunate for animals to be used as test subjects however it is for a good cause. They have their own feelings but they their sacrifice has helped saved millions of lives. I am not in favor of animals being used as test subjects but I would rather have an animal used rather a human life. This topic is very controversial because it can go both ways with a lot of great points on each sides but in the end it is animals lives that have been helping us survive since we got here on Earth.

  • Mariah Cavanaugh

    Your article was well written and researched. You mention the numerous life-saving medical discoveries made thanks to animal testing, and it is essential that we acknowledge that. However, I firmly disagree that animal research is still necessary to achieve advances. Science has come a long way in just the past few years, and there are sophisticated options available that don’t involve harming animals. There are many cell and tissue-based models which can asses the safety of drugs, chemicals, and cosmetics. There is also computer modeling, in vitro testing and research with human volunteers. We have come so far as a society I believe that it is time for us to move away from cruel animal testing.

  • Alexander Manibusan

    I really wish everyone can see this article. While animal testing might sound scary and even unjust, there are ethical laws in place for these animals. And without these animals, we wouldn’t have all of these discoveries we now take for granted, such as anesthesia and insulin. Without them, who would we use? Ourselves? I’d really like to see how well that would turn out.

  • Miguel Rivera

    I do believe that these experiments are necessary in order to keep them away from humans as long as possible. I do sympathize with the poor animals but that’s something that has brought many benefits to us just like the article stated, especially with diabetes. This got me thinking about how the Nazis used hundreds of disgusting experiments on humans, and a question is asked with them documenting everything is it ethical to use that data? I mean one day maybe we won’t have to use animals in experimenting but for now the data produced has saved lives for years to come.

  • Andrea Cabrera

    Controversial topics fascinate me. This article shows exactly why we need to talk about subjects that make us uncomfortable. It demonstrates us how testing on animals has provided us with knowledge that we wouldn’t to acquired otherwise. I personally I’m against inhumane animal testing, however as a firm believer of scientific discoveries I can agree that safe animal testing is necessary in medical advances.

  • William Ward

    Based on a topic I myself knew very little about, very informative and well written. Research on animals has been reported to be inhuman in the past, but with that being said, how many human lives have been saved from the research obtained? One can only hope the data collected from animal testing is humane. Very interesting read about the heart-lung machine.

  • Devin Ramos

    I did not know that animals were being used for tests such as how a cancer gene works or even for chemotherapy which is cool. But animals do feel pain also and to me it is a little inhumane that we use animals and put them through pain to later on heal us. But vaccines and other medical operations do need to be tested so I do see the need of testing on animals. But I also hope that animal testing is regulated so the animals are in the least amount of pain that they should be in.

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