The Importance of Animal Research
08.7.09 by Daniel Gaddy
As a biomedical researcher, I firmly believe that the importance of animal research cannot be overstated. As eloquently expressed on the website of the Foundation for Biomedical Research:
Animal research has played a vital role in virtually every major medical advance of the last century – for both human and animal health. From antibiotics to blood transfusions, from dialysis to organ transplantation, from vaccinations to chemotherapy, bypass surgery and joint replacement, practically every present day protocol for the prevention, treatment, cure and control of disease, pain and suffering is based on knowledge attained through animal research.
Physicians and researchers overwhelmingly agree that animal systems provide invaluable and irreplaceable insights into human systems. The essential need for animal research is recognized and supported by medical societies and health agencies around the world.
Unfortunately, not everyone gets this point. Animal rights activists have fought for many years to end the legal and moral use of animals in research, or what they deem animal cruelty. The truth is, treatment of research animals in the United States is far from cruel. In fact, every institution in the United States that conducts animal research must establish an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, which oversees the use of animals in research and establishes guidelines that guarantee safe and ethical treatment of research animals.
As for the activists, they do not simply protest and voice their opinions. Animal rights activists are becoming increasingly violent. The video below describes a recent attack against Novartis:
A vacation home belonging to Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella was burned in a suspected arson, a week after his mother’s grave was vandalized by animal rights protesters. The words “Drop HLS Now” were spray painted on the grave, CNBC reports. The protesters want Novartis to sever its ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences, a contract company that does animal testing for drug companies.
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