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About Cruelty Free International Meet the team. Even non-regulated products, such as cosmetics, are commonly animal-tested for safety for the purpose of liability. Companies do not want to market a product that could result in legal claims. Drugs intended for human or animal use are additionally tested for efficacy i. This testing typically involves animal models as well. For drugs, agency approval to conduct human testing in clinical trials typically requires a company to submit the results from animal testing data and toxicity data.
Most animal testing for toxicity is conducted using mice, rats and rabbits. Multiple toxicity tests are required to evaluate potential hazards for each product or chemical. Each test is based on a human health endpoint that is to be evaluated in the animal model. For example, human health endpoints evaluated in different types of toxicity tests include eye irritation, skin irritation, skin sensitization, carcinogenicity, genetic toxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity and acute oral systemic toxicity.
Perhaps the most commonly known method of animal testing for toxicity is the Draize rabbit eye test, intended to predict whether a product or chemical would cause injury to the human eye. A reversible effect to the eye from a chemical is called eye irritation or ocular irritation , and an irreversible effect that would result in permanent eye injury is called eye corrosion or ocular corrosion. The Draize test involves placing a small volume of the substance into one eye of each rabbit in a small group of animals typically three to six , and then recording specific effects observed in that eye over time typically up to 21 days.
The gross nature of this test and the likelihood of pain to the animals have evoked widespread public outcry against it. Scientifically, the test has been poorly reproducible, and not always predictive of the human response. The results are subjective and variable due to human scoring of the rabbit eye injuries, variations in the test method and other factors.
Progress toward replacing this animal test with alternative non-animal test methods has been slow, disorganized and subject to political influences. We are leading efforts globally to encourage scientists, companies and policy-makers to transition away from animal use in favour of 21st century methods. Our work brings together experts from around the globe to share knowledge and best practice, improving the quality of research by replacing animals in the laboratory. It is often argued that because animal experiments have been used for centuries, and medical progress has been made in that time, animal experiments must be necessary.
But this is missing the point. History is full of examples of flawed or basic practices and ideas that were once considered state-of-the-art, only to be superseded years later by something far more sophisticated and successful. Those early ideas are part of aviation history, but no-one would seriously argue that they represent the cutting-edge of design or human achievement. So it is with laboratory research. Animal experiments are part of medical history, but history is where they belong.
So if we want better quality medical research, safer more effective pharmaceuticals and cures to human diseases, we need to turn the page in the history books and embrace the new chapter—21st century science. Independent scientific reviews demonstrate that research using animals correlates very poorly to real human patients.
In fact, the data show that animal studies fail to predict real human outcomes in 50 to This is mainly because other species seldom naturally suffer from the same diseases as found in humans. Animal experiments rely on often uniquely human conditions being artificially induced in non-human species.
While on a superficial level they may share similar symptoms, fundamental differences in genetics, physiology and biochemistry can result in wildly different reactions to both the illness and potential treatments. For some areas of disease research, overreliance on animal models may well have delayed medical progress rather than advanced it.
Other animals that were used included guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, birds, goats, sheep and pigs. Cats, dogs, horses and monkeys are classed as "specially protected species" - which means laboratories wanting to use them must show that no other species are suitable before they're given the go-ahead. The figures show 71 cats, 2, dogs, horses and 2, monkeys were used in experimental procedures for the first time in The Home Office also records what it calls the "severity" experienced by animals which are used for research.
In the figures, pain is broken down into severe, moderate, mild, sub-threshold and non-recovery - which means the animal was put under anaesthetic before the start of the procedure and is killed without ever regaining consciousness. There's a ban on using animals to test cosmetic products or their ingredients in the UK and all other countries which are members of the EU. Since , it's also been illegal to sell cosmetic products in the EU that have been tested on animals. This includes things such as soap, shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste as well as make-up and perfumes.
But that's not the case for all of the world. For example, in China and the US there's no national law banning the use of animals in cosmetic testing. Under UK law any new drug being developed must be tested on at least two different species of live mammal - one rodent and one non-rodent.
Chris Magee, head of policy and media for Understanding Animal Research, told Radio 1 Newsbeat: "Research using animals is the reason we have medicines for ourselves and our pets.
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