Answers to research questions [Part 3]

This blog entry will answer Q5, Q4, Q19, Q20, Q6, Q25, Q26 and Q27 of our 30 questions.

Q5 Is animal testing replaceable?

Q4 Is anesthesia used on animals?

Q19 How many cosmetic companies use animal testing?

Q20 Which countries use animal testing the most?

Q6 Why do some companies or countries continue animal testing?

Q25 Should animals be allowed to experience pain for medical research?

Q26 Are there alternatives to using animals for research?

Q27 Should technologies replace animal dissection in science classes?

[Animal Testing]

When a new drug or surgical technique is developed, society deems it unethical to use that drug or technique first in human beings because of the possibility that it would cause harm rather than good. Instead, the drug or technique is tested in animals to make sure that it is safe and effective. But while the underlying biology is similar, small differences between animal and human cells are amplified when a patient takes a drug. It means predicting the risk to patients is limited to an accuracy rate of around (75% to 85%), research shows, and it also leads to drug withdrawals from the market because of cardiovascular safety issues. When possible, they try to perform these toxicology tests using biochemical or cell-based (in vitro) systems instead of with animals such as mice. For example, researchers successfully created in vitro methods to identify severe eye irritants and substances that could cause allergic contact dermatitis.However, the development of in vitro tests that can reliably identify chemical hazards resulting in cancer or birth defects is more difficult because of the complexity of the biological processes involved. Computer programs with advanced systems based on large chemical databases can predict a chemical's toxicity, reducing the need for animal testing in some situations.it’s now possible to test a new heart drug in a “virtual human”. Our recent research at the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science demonstrates that computational models representing human heart cells show higher accuracy (89-96%) than animal models in predicting an adverse drug effect, such as dangerous arrhythmias – where the heart beat becomes irregular and can stop.

[Statistics about animal testing]

How much experiment on animal use anesthesia ? Of the animal species covered under the Animal Welfare Act, 66% were involved in experiments where they experienced no pain and therefore no anesthesia was required, 28% were involved in procedures where they experienced some pain and/or required anesthesia and 6% of all animals experiences some pain but no anesthesia was provided because it would interfere with the experimental purpose.

It might be surprising for some people, but the top 10 animal testing countries in the world are China (20.5 million) Japan (15.0 million), the United States (15.6 million), Canada (3.6 million), Australia (3.2 million), South Korea (3.1 million), the United Kingdom (2.6 million), Brazil (2.2 million), Germany (2.0 million) and France (1.9 million), in that order.

Of the 50 largest cosmetics companies ranked by market value as per Brand Finance in 2021, we found that 88% fund animal testing. This means that of these 50 companies, 44 are not cruelty-free. Also, out of the 50 top brands, only 6 are cruelty-free: Garnier, who became Leaping Bunny-certified in March of 2021, Tresemme, who followed Garnier's footsteps in May of 2021, The Body Shop, which has been cruelty-free since the company started in 1976, as well as Dove, Herbal Essences, and Sunsilk, who have taken PETA's cruelty-free pledge.

[References]

"US Animal Research Statistics" from https://speakingofresearch.com/facts/statistics/

"Alternatives to Animal Testing"( Feb 09, 2022) from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/sya-iccvam/index.cfm

"FACTS AND FIGURES ON ANIMAL TESTING" from https://crueltyfreeinternational.org/about-animal-testing/facts-and-figures-animal-testing#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%20the%20top,2.0%20million)%20and%20France%20(1.9

"88% of Top Beauty Brands Fund Animal Testing (Animal Testing Statistics)" by Suzana Rose ( Oct 4, 2021) from https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/news/animal-testing-statistics/

"Should Computer Simulations Replace Animal Testing for Heart Drugs?" By Elisa Passini, Blanca Rodriguez, Patricia Benito ( March 27, 2018) from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/should-computer-simulations-replace-animal-testing-for-heart-drugs/

コメント

  1. K.S. Noctua2022年7月26日 22:58

    I am glad to hear that more than half of the animals tested experience no pain. It does hurt me to know that most companies use animal testing or make other companies do it for them, but at least they do not suffer during the injection or process of applying. I wonder how anesthesia interferes with the experiment. I have heard of how Japanese militaries (Unit 731) did not want to use anesthesia on the people they experimented on as well since anesthesia would interfere with the results they want. Can’t we at least maybe make anesthesia that won’t interfere with the experiment itself? Animal testing itself is bad, but if companies cannot switch to cruelty-free easily, then I think this should be an option.

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