Is animal testing necessary?

▲ The Leaping Bunny, Cruelty-Free Certification / Source: Google

 Animal testing has been conducted whenever and anywhere. The history is very long that the records are founded from BC 4. Starting with academic and medical purposes, there have been many experiments for biomedical purposes in modern times. For example, there are the discovery of pathogens and conditioned reflexes using dogs.

 And it has continued to this day and is also used for medicines, cosmetics, detergents, clothing, and candles. The number of experimental animals imported into Korea amounts to 200,000 a year, and that means many animal experiments are conducted.

 While animal testing is taking place naturally, arguments against animal testing have emerged steadily. Let’s look at the pros and cons of animal testing and find how-to-decrease animal testing.

 Let's talk about the pro’s opinion. First, the restriction of genetic effects is free. In clinical trials, human-twins can be prevented from being tested in special cases. Second, laboratory animals have a shorter life cycle than humans. So, progress observations can be completed quickly. Third, minimum safety can be secured before clinical trials.

 And now, let’s talk about the con’s opinion. First, there are only 1.16% of diseases shared by animals and humans. And there is a 5-10% chance that animal testing results will be the same as those of clinical trials. According to the American Medical Association, "Animal testing is proving very little, and it is very difficult to correlate with humans.".

 This can be seen in the examples of Aspirin, Glybag, and Thalidomide. Aspirin and Glybag have had side effects on dogs and cats, but have had good effects on humans. But in contrast, Taridomide had no side effects on animals, but when taken by humans, it had side effects that increased the chance of the birth of malformed babies.

 Second, some experiments can replace animal testing. For example, there is "Episkin," an artificial skin tissue, and if you use computer simulations, you can get much more information than the results of animal testing.

 Although there are obvious advantages to animal testing, why don't you try to reduce it a little bit? For the innocent animals, starting from unnecessary animal testing. For example, cosmetics can be changed to 'Cruelty-Free' products.

 Cruelty-Free just means that a product was not tested on animals. But that is passed on the clinical test, so we don’t have to worry about the safety of it. And you can search for the items easily on the internet. And the tip for searching the items is that all you have to find is the certification of Cruelty-Free. The above picture is just an example, and many organizations prove the Cruelty Free, so please refer to it. Now, shall we start the Cruelty-Free?