Discover
Discussion Questions
- Should animals be used to test new drugs? Why or why not?
- Should animals be used to test cosmetics? Why or why not?
- Research alternatives to animal testing for drugs and cosmetics. Which, if any, do you think are the best? The worst? Explain your answers.
Take Action
- Consider Stanford Medicine’s defense of animal testing.
- Analyze the FDA’s statement on using animals to test cosmetics.
- Explore Cruelty Free International, an organization against animal testing.
- Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.
- Push for the position and policies you support by writing U.S. senators and representatives.
Sources
- The Hastings Center, "Fact Sheet: Animals Used in Research in the U.S.," animalresearch.thehastingscenter.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Speaking of Research, "U.S. Statistics," speakingofresearch.com (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Animal Welfare Act, gpo.gov, last amended June 18, 2008
- The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, "Conservation & Threats," janegoodall.ca (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Science Museum (UK), "Thalidomide," sciencemuseum.org.uk (accessed Oct. 17, 2013)
- U.S. Department of Defense, "Animal Care and Use Programs for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007," dtic.mil (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), "A Brief History of Animals in Space," history.nasa.gov (accessed Oct. 17, 2013)
- Chicago Tribune, "Nasa Loading More Than 2,000 Animals into Shuttle," chicagotribune.com, Apr. 15, 1998
- California Biomedical Research Association, "CBRA Fact Sheet: Why Are Animals Necessary in Biomedical Research?," ca-biomed.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- AnimalResearch.info, "Diseases & Research," animalresearch.info (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Elizabeth Fisher, "Why We Should Accept Animal Testing," huffingtonpost.co.uk, July 17, 2013
- Speaking of Research, "Alternatives?," speakingofresearch.com (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, "Animal Research FAQ," aalas.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Associated Press, "Texas Research Chimps Face Retirement, Relocation," khou.com, July 22, 2013
- Kara Rogers, "Scientific Alternatives to Animal Testing: A Progress Report," britannica.com, Sep. 17, 2007
- Jonathan Smith, "Can Biotechnology Reduce Animal Testing in Medicine?,” labiotech.eu, Apr. 8, 2019
- Understanding Animal Research, "Myths and Facts," understandinganimalresearch.org.uk (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- David Wright, Cole Kazdin, and Lauren Effron, "’Zoobiquity’: 7 Diseases Animals Share with Humans," abcnews.go.com, June 12, 2012
- Speaking of Research, "Animal Research Is Not ’Animal Testing,’" speakingofresearch.com, Jan. 17, 2013
- U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), "Laws Related to the Protection of Human Subjects: World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki," history.nih.gov (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- California Veterinary Medical Association, "Animal Research: How It Benefits Both Humans and Animals," cvma.net (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Peter Beaumont, "Australia’s Koala Crisis: Gene Sequencing Provides Hope against Killer Diseases," theguardian.com, Apr. 20, 2013
- American Veterinary Medical Association, "Use of Animals in Research, Testing, and Education," avma.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Christian E. Newcomer, email to ProCon.org, Oct. 11, 2013
- Americans for Medical Progress, "Animal Research FAQs: The Top 10 Questions," amprogress.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), "Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year: 2010," aphis.usda.gov, July 27, 2011
- Rutgers University Laboratory Animal Services, "II. Federal, State And University Laws, Regulations, Guidelines And Policies," las.rutgers.edu (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Charlotte Hu, "Of Mice and Model Organisms,” cshl.edu, July 31, 2019
- George Dvorsky, "Do These Startling Longevity Studies Mean Your Lifespan Could Double?," io9.com, Apr. 30, 2013
- Science Daily, "Naked Mole Rat’s Secret to Staying Cancer Free," sciencedaily.com, July 31, 2013
- Nature Genetics, "Editorial: Animal Research and the Search for Understanding," nature.com, 2006
- Americans for Medical Progress, "Touring an Animal Research Facility," youtube.com, Oct. 21, 2008
- Tibor R. Machan, "Animals Do Not Have Rights," nytimes.com, Apr. 5, 2012
- A. Barton Hinkle, "Do Animals Have Rights?," reason.com, Sep. 23, 2011
- Daniel Cressey, "Animal Research: Battle Scars," nature.com, Feb. 23, 2011
- American Physiological Society, "Animal Research," the-aps.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- National Association for Biomedical Research, "Mission Statement," nabr.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- American Heart Association, "Public Policy Agenda 2010-14," heart.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Society of Toxicology, "Animals in Research Public Policy Statement," toxicology.org, Mar. 1999
- American Cancer Society, "Did You Know...," main.acsevents.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, "Nonprofits: Endorse the Campaign," safecosmetics.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Animal Testing and Cosmetics," fda.gov, Apr. 5, 2006
- Bloomberg News, "China Animal Testing Complicates L’Oreal’s Expansion," bloomberg.com, Aug. 22, 2013
- SC Johnson, "SC Johnson Point of View on Animal Testing," scjohnson.com, Oct. 23, 2019
- King James Bible, "Genesis 1:26," kingjamesbibleonline.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), "Animal Ethics," bbc.co.uk (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Humane Society International, "About Animal Testing," hsi.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Scientific American, "Do Cosmetic Companies Still Test on Live Animals?," scientificamerican.com (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Rodrigo Netto Costa, et al., "A Reassessment of the in Vitro Total Protein Content Determination (TPC) with SIRC and 3T3 Cells for the Evaluation of the Ocular Irritation Potential of Shampoos: Comparison with the in Vivo Draize Rabbit Test," Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, Nov.-Dec. 2011
- Geoff Watts, "Alternatives to Animal Experimentation," British Medical Journal, Jan. 27, 2007
- Axonn News Agency, "Greiner Bio-One Launches Artificial Skin to Replace Animal Testing," zenopa.com, July 15, 2013
- New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS), "Biomedical Research," neavs.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Humane Society International, "As Home Office Statistics Show UK Animal Experiments At Shocking 4.11Million, HSI Calls on Government to Increase Spend on Non-Animal Replacement Techniques," hsi.org, July 16, 2013
- Jeffrey M. Perkel, "Life Science Technologies: Animal-Free Toxicology: Sometimes, in Vitro is Better," sciencemag.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), "Vioxx Tragedy Spotlights Failure of Animal Research," pcrm.org, Mar. 2005
- NBC News, "Report: Vioxx Linked to Thousands of Deaths," nbcnews.com, Oct. 6, 2004
- Understanding Animal Research, "Nine Out of Ten Statistics Are Taken Out of Context," understandinganimalresearch.org.uk, Jan. 23, 2013
- Aysha Akhtar, "Want to Improve Medical Research? Cut Out the Animals!," huffingtonpost.com, July 11, 2013
- Junhee Seok, et al., "Genomic Responses in Mouse Models Poorly Mimic Human Inflammatory Diseases," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Feb. 11, 2013
- Marcel Leist and Thomas Hartung, "Inflammatory Findings on Species Extrapolations: Humans Are Definitely No 70-kg Mice," Archives of Toxicology, 2013
- Humane Society International, "Costs of Animal and Non-Animal Testing," hsi.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Kathleen Conlee, "Animal Testing Not Effective," live.huffingtonpost.com, July 12, 2013
- U.S. National Institutes of Health, "NIH Budget," nih.gov (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Carol Kilkenny, et al., "Survey of the Quality of Experimental Design, Statistical Analysis and Reporting of Research Using Animals," PLOS One, 2009
- Humane Society of the United States, "Questions and Answers about Biomedical Research," humanesociety.org, Sep. 16, 2013
- Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, 2009
- Richard Dawkins, "But Can They Suffer," richarddawkins.net, June 29, 2011
- Humane Society of the United States, "Undercover Investigation Reveals Cruelty to Chimps at Research Lab," humanesociety.org, Mar. 4, 2009
- Marjie Lundstrom, "UC Davis Researcher Suspended over Animal Care Allegations," Sacramento Bee website, Oct. 7, 2012
- King James Bible, "Proverbs 12:10," kingjamesbibleonline.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition, 2011
- National Association for Biomedical Research, "Species in Research," nabr.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Small Business Assistance: Frequently Asked Questions on Drug Development and Investigational New Drug Applications," fda.gov (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Benjamin Adams and Jean Larson, "Legislative History of the Animal Welfare Act," nal.usda.gov (accessed Oct. 17, 2013)
- Daniel Engber, "Where’s Pepper?," slate.com, June 1, 2009
- Frank Newport and Igor Himelfarb, "In U.S., Record-High Say Gay, Lesbian Relations Morally OK," gallup.com, May 20, 2013
- Joy Wilke and Lydia Saad, "Older Americans’ Moral Attitudes Changing," gallup.com, June 3, 2013
- Lake Research Partners, "Ending Cosmetics Testing on Animals in the United States: Findings from a Nationwide Survey of 802 Registered Voters, Including 206 Via Cell Phone," humanesociety.org, 2013
- Richard R. Sharp, "Ethical Issues in the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research," hhs.gov (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Anita Guerrini, Experimenting with Humans and Animals: From Galen to Animal Rights, 2003
- U.S. National Institutes of Health, "Greek Medicine: Galen," nlm.nih.gov, Feb. 7, 2012
- Rachel Hajar, "Animal Testing and Medicine," Heart Views, Jan.-Mar. 2011
- Anita Guerrini, "The Rhetorics of Animal Rights," Applied Ethics in Animal Research: Philosophy, Regulation, and Laboratory Applications, Ed. John P. Gluck et al., 2002
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), "William Harvey (1578 - 1657)," bbc.co.uk (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Domenico Ribatti, "William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood," Journal of Angiogenesis Research, Sep. 21, 2009
- Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex, 1927
- British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, "Records of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection," nationalarchives.gov.uk (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Sir Rickman John Godlee, Lord Lister, 1918
- National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), "The Challenge of Animal Research," nc3rs.org.uk (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
- Darian M. Ibrahim, "Reduce, Refine, Replace: The Failure of the Three R’s and the Future of Animal Experimentation," Social Science Research Network website, Mar. 4, 2006
- Joanne Zurlo, Deborah Rudacille, and Alan M. Goldberg, "The Three R’s: The Way Forward," Environmental Health Perspectives, Aug. 1996
- David Whitehouse, "First Dog in Space Died within Hours," news.bbc.co.uk, Oct. 28, 2002
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), "Military Avoids Timeline to Modernize Combat Trauma Training," pcrm.org (accessed Oct. 16, 2013)
- Ernesto Londoño, "Military Is Required to Justify Using Animals in Medic Training after Pressure from Activists," washingtonpost.com, Feb. 24, 2013
- Mike M. Ahlers, "Coast Guard Reexamines Use of Live Goats as Battle ’Patients,’" cnn.com, May 3, 2013
- Daniel Engber, "Me and My Monkey," slate.com, June 5, 2009
- Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Debate over Whether to Defend Animal Tests," nytimes.com, July 23, 2002
- James Kanter, "E.U. Bans Cosmetics with Animal-Tested Ingredients," nytimes.com, Mar. 11, 2013
- Alicia Graef, "Victory! India Bans Animal Testing for Cosmetics," care2.com, July 2, 2013
- James Gorman, "U.S. to Begin Retiring Most Research Chimps," nytimes.com, June 26, 2013
- Nobel Media, "The Discovery of Insulin," nobelprize.org (accessed Oct. 16, 2013)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year,” aphis.usda.gov, Jan. 7, 2020
- Encyclopædia Britannica, "Ahimsa," britannica.com (accessed Oct. 16, 2013)
- National Academy of Sciences, "Report Calls for New Directions, Innovative Approaches in Testing Chemicals for Toxicity to Humans," nationalacademies.org, June 12, 2007
- Aysha Akhtar, Animals and Public Health: Why Treating Animals Better Is Critical to Human Welfare, 2012
- Arthur Allen, "Of Mice or Men: The Problems with Animal Testing," slate.com, June 1, 2006
- Aysha Akhtar, email to ProCon.org, Oct. 14, 2013
- Karl S. Kruszelnicki, "Mouse with Human Ear," abc.net.au, June 2, 2006
- Ray Greek, et al., "The History and Implications of Testing Thalidomide on Animals," Journal of Philosophy, Science & Law, Oct. 3, 2011
- John J. Pippin and Kristie Sullivan, "Dangerous Medicine: Examples of Animal-Based ’Safety’ Tests Gone Wrong," Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website (accessed Oct. 23, 2013)
- Pro-Test, "Frequently Asked Questions," pro-test.org.uk (accessed Oct. 23, 2013)
- World Health Organization, "Poliomyelitis," who.int, Apr. 2013
- Pamela Bass, email to ProCon.org, Oct. 21, 2013
- Julie Naughton, "China’s FDA Adjusts Mandatory Animal Testing," Women’s Wear Daily, Nov. 7, 2013
- Tom Holder, "Animal Research Is an Ethical and Vital Tool to Fight Disease," blogs.law.harvard.edu, Jan. 14, 2013
- Mike Wall, "U.S. Was First to Send Monkey to Space in 1948," nbcnews.com, Jan. 28, 2013
- National Institutes of Health, "NIH Will No Longer Support Biomedical Research on Chimpanzees," nih.gov, Nov. 18, 2015
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative, "Polio This Week," polioeradication.org (accessed Sep. 22, 2017)
- Julie Steenhuysen, "As Pressure for Coronavirus Vaccine Mounts, Scientists Debate Risks of Accelerated Testing,” reuters.com, Mar. 11, 2020
- Carly Funk and Lee Rainie, "Public and Scientists’ Views on Science and Society," pewinternet.org, Jan. 29, 2015
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), "Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year: 2016," aphis.usda.gov, June 27, 2017
- United States Department of Agriculture, In Re: SNBL USA, LTD: AWA Docket 16-0187, Sep. 26, 2016
- Alice Klein, "Chlamydia Vaccine for Koalas Slows Spread of Deadly Disease," newscientist.com, Apr. 21, 2017
- John Ericson, "Breakthroughs Might Mean the End of Animal Testing," newsweek.com, Mar. 18, 2014
- Jeff Flake, "Wastebook: Porkemon Go," flake.senate.gov, Jan. 2017
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), "Tell Congress: Cut Funding for Cruel Experiments on Animals," support.peta.org (accessed Oct. 18, 2017)
- Emily Trunnell, "The University of Pittsburgh Is Using Taxpayer Dollars to Conduct Cruel and Unnecessary Animal Experiments," alternet.org, Sep. 7, 2017
- Stacy L. Pritt and Robert E. Hammer, "The Interplay of Ethics, Animal Welfare, and IACUC Oversight on the Reproducibility of Animal Studies," Comparative Medicine, Apr. 2017
- New Internationalist, "Is Animal Testing Necessary to Advance Medical Research?" newint.org, June 1, 2011
- Humane Research Australia (HRA), "Medical Research," humaneresearch.org.au, Jan. 2006
- Mihir Zaveri, Mariel Padilla, and Jaclyn Peiser, "E.P.A. Says It Will Drastically Reduce Animal Testing," nytimes.com, Sep. 10, 2019
- Frontiers, "Algorithm for Large-scale Brain Simulations,” sciencedaily.com, Mar. 5, 2018
- Bruce Einhorn, "A Virus Cure Depends on Rare Lab Mice, But There Aren’t Enough,” bloomberg.com, Mar. 11, 2020
- Mihir Zaveri, Mariel Padilla, and Jaclyn Peiser, "E.P.A. Says It Will Drastically Reduce Animal Testing,” nytimes.com, Sep. 10, 2019
- The Humane Society of the United States, "Animals Used in Biomedical Research FAQ,” humanesociety.org (accessed Mar. 17, 2020)
- Perfect365, Inc., "New Survey from Perfect365 Reveals 36% of Women Prefer to Purchase Cruelty-Free Beauty," businesswire.com, Mar. 29, 2018
- Market Research Future, "Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Market Research Report - Global Forecast till 2024,” marketresearchfuture.com, Mar. 2020
- European Commission, “Ban on Animal Testing,” ec.europa.eu (accessed Mar. 17, 2020)
- Nicole Pallotta, "California Bans the Sale of Most Cosmetics Tested on Animals,” alder.org, Oct. 15, 2018
- Elizabeth Siegel, "Why Beauty Brands Still Test Their Products on Animals," allure.com, Oct. 20, 2017
- Rachel L. Roper; and Kristina E. Rehm, "SARS Vaccines: Where Are We?,” medscape.com, 2009
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "Coronavirus Vaccine: NIH Isn’t Waiting for Pointless Animal Tests,” peta.org, Mar. 16, 2020
- Michelle Roberts, "Coronavirus: U.S. Volunteers Test First Vaccine,” bbc.com, Mar. 17, 2020
- Nicoletta Lanese, "Researchers Fast-Track Coronavirus Vaccine by Skipping Key Animal Testing First,” livescience.com, Mar. 13, 2020
- Eric Boodman, "Researchers Rush to Test Coronavirus Vaccine in People without Knowing How Well It Works in Animals,” statnews.com, Mar. 11, 2020
- Rachel Bucchino, "New FDA Policy Allows Lab Animals to Be Adopted after Experiments,” thehill.com, Feb. 7, 2020
- Moderna, "Moderna’s Work on a Potential Vaccine Against COVID-19,” modernatx.com (accessed Mar. 18, 2020)
- Sui-Lee Wee, "Future Vaccines Depend on Test Subjects in Short Supply: Monkeys," nytimes.com, Feb. 23, 2021
- Tom Branna, "China To End Animal Testing for Imported ’Ordinary’ Cosmetics," happi.com, Mar. 5, 2021
- Humane Society International, "Mexico Becomes First Country in North America to Outlaw Animal Testing for Cosmetics," hsi.org, Sep. 2, 2021
- Joe Hernandez, "The FDA No Longer Requires All Drugs to Be Tested on Animals before Human Trials," npr.org, Jan. 12, 2023