Isn't this all about picking the lesser evil? Would it be better to replace the lab rats and guinea pigs with humans instead? Again, it's a question of ethical dilemma that will always be justifiable, depending on your perspective.
Scientific research has never been an easy task in our world especially dealing with the uncertainty of whether what you've developed will actually work the way you've intended because sometimes, it doesn't go that way and the side effects becomes overwhelming that the demerits outweigh the benefits; nevertheless, scientists keep redefining their work, developing a better version of what they developed and eventually land themselves in the right drugs for a particular illness.
Scientific research is never a one-day task as it takes years of hard work to finally do one and despite all those years of difficulties still poses risks necessitating the need to pretest them on these Lab rats and guinea pigs.
You can't even deny the fact that this has been a great contributor to our scientific advancements, helping understand diseases and developing life saving drugs, hence , before discussing this topic it's always good we consider the possible alternatives we have asides them.
Animal rights might argue that it's inhumane to do this very act but then, the difficult question becomes, what should we substitute these animals with? Wouldn't scientists be using them already?
Justifying Animal Testing Scientifically
Guinea pigs and lab rats have body biological systems that are very similar to that of humans . This similarity allows scientists to have better insight of how these drugs will react in the human systems and the possible side effects.
Many of the vaccines we enjoy their protective effect today were produced this way such as the polio and measles vaccine to mention but a few, of which many would have been dead without these vaccines.
However, ethical guidelines exists to ensure a responsible use of these animals and I remember my pharmacology lecturer telling us of what she called 3 R's of animal testing when we did drug trials...
Replacement: She said as a good scientist, animal testing should be your last resort and you should strive to make use of non-animal alternatives whenever it's possible.
Reduction: Eventually it boils down to using animals, as a good scientist, you should try as much as possible to reduce to the barest minimum the number of animals you will use.
Refinement: The animals you are making use of should be made to be as comfortable as possible and also be put through methods that will reduce pain.
It's undoubtedly unfortunate that animal testing is necessary, but like say said, I think it's still a better option pretesting these drugs with these animals rather than approving the drugs for human consumption without proper testing, only to find out the negative impacts when you've taken them. The consequences of bypassing this step will be very catastrophic leading to widespread loss of lives.
Until we've come up with better alternatives, I think it's only right we sacrifice the well-being of few animals to save countless human lives.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day 👍
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You're right my doctor, even though it doesn't seems ethical, we can't help but understand that we can just give humans this drugs without a test to know it effect.
Exactly, we need to tests these substances hence we will be doing more harm than the intended good
Yeah, we didn't have any other option except using lab animals for trails. We should not cull them and provide them equal opportunity for survival after trails.
That's True
I have heard that severally that humans system are similar to that of humans and it's easy to use the animals then make sure to implement the necessary precautions to make sure we don't run short of the animals...
Thank You for sharing
Yes, it's true
Not entirely the same but it's let's say 70% match
Those precaution are necessary indeed
You know the question "what should we use instead has been on my mind ever since," if not the animals obviously it will be humans and that would be far evil than anything else.
Exactly! It's almost not an option honestly
It's highly important that these testing are done prior to human consumptions inorder to save our lives, however it makes sense if other alternatives can be used instead of using animals because I believe that animals have their own lives to live...
Yes, that's true
Let's just say it's the lesser evil and until we find an alternative, I think it's our best bet
Indeed
As it stands, there is no viable alternative to using lab rats to test the possible effect of drugs. I wish there is. But then, human survival is very necessary.
That's very true