BACKGROUND: Animal testing is the practice of testing non-human subjects for scientific research purposes.

For years, household products, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics have been tested on animals. An estimated 50 to 100 million animals are used worldwide each year for experimentation purposes.

The animals range from zebrafish and mice, to non-human primates like Rhesus Macaques, chimpanzees and baboons.

An article published in Science in 1999 states that roughly 20 million rats and mice are used each year in the United States for testing purposes.

Mice are often viewed as the best subjects for inherited human diseases because they share 99 percent of their genes with humans and can be genetically engineered to display a range of diseases.

FOR OR AGAINST? According to a survey by the American Medical Association, 99 percent of physicians in the United States believe animal testing has helped foster progress in the medical community.

Ninety-seven percent of survey respondents also support continued use of animal testing for clinical research. Without animal testing, there's no way to prove safety, says John Young, V.M.D., director of the department of comparative medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is Los Angeles, Calif.

"You can learn a lot in vitro, in a tissue culture, but a tissue culture has no beating heart, no blood vessels, no nerve conductivity, no consciousness," Dr. Young said.

"You can make some hypothesis that a new anti-cancer drug, which kills cancer cells in a petri dish, but leaves normal cells alone, [but] you have no idea what that is going to do to blood pressure, to brain function, so you have to test that for safety and efficacy in a living, breathing intact organism."

While animal testing for medical purposes has garnered support, a majority of the American public opposes applying the research practice to less essential studies, like for cosmetics or household cleaning agents.

A sample of 1,000 adults revealed 60 percent disagreed with animal testing for such purposes, while 43 percent opposed testing of over-the-counter medicine and 20 percent opposed prescription drug testing.

In the past decade, cosmetic companies have responded to the public’s view and companies like Avon and Revlon have denounced animal testing. Other companies guarantee certain products are animal friendly, such as Clairol's Herbal Essence shampoo line.

In 1944, at the height of World War II, John Draize helped develop a method to assess eye damage from chemical warfare agents.

The Draize test continues to be used today for products like shampoo, hair spray, deodorant, pesticides and detergents.

The test typically involves putting a chemical agent in one eye of a rabbit, while the other eye is left untouched for comparison. Over several days, irritation and eye damage are observed.

The FDA supports the test, but criticism of it has prompted a reduction in its use. When performed today, it is sometimes modified to require a lower amount of the test substance placed in the eye, and by giving the subjects anesthetics to reduce their discomfort.

GOVERNMENT REGULATION: At one point, pharmaceuticals were not widely regulated by the government.

Prescription drugs were banned only after a company was prosecuted for distributing a product that harmed individuals. That practice changed drastically when more than 100 people died in 1937 after taking a drug called Elixer of Sulfanilamide.

The incident encouraged the United States congress to pass laws requiring drugs to be tested for safety before being marketed to the public; but today, the government often requires that preliminary testing to involve animals.

"If you are going to go to clinical trial with a new drug or a new diagnostic modality, the federal government -- the Food and Drug Administration -- requires safety and efficacy data, and that usually is required to be performed in at least two different species of non-human animals," Dr. Young explained.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Americans for Medical Progress
http://www.amprogress.org

Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing
http://caat.jhsph.edu

PETA
http://www.peta.org

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
http://www.pcrm.org