Animal testing is mostly performed to help save lives. Testing is performed to understand what reactions drugs have, to figure out which drugs help what diseases and to see how certain drugs affect conditions such as pregnancy. Some animal testing is done to promote a product or to understand the effects of those products. This might include testing makeup, lotions or food products. Animal testing has much support from people who believe that animals are a close link to humans and therefore can be tested to see what effects drugs, products or foods have on people. A second opinion is that animal testing is cruel and inhumane and should not be done, no matter what the benefit is to people.
Drug Testing
New drugs are developed each day. Before they can be tested on people, they are tested on animals. Drugs that cure diseases are tested on animals by first giving the animal the disease and then administering the drug to see if the drug stops the disease. Other drugs are tested on animals who are healthy to help determine side effects or problems that might come up with the drug. Drugs are tested on animals to see how much of the disease is cured by the drugs, or to understand if the drugs will create problems during pregnancy. Long-term use of the drugs is also studied to see what conditions could arise in animals who are exposed to the drug for longer periods of time.
Behavior Testing
Some animals are tested with behavior testing techniques. This can include testing the way a rat will run a maze or the way that various animals react to music, loud noises or different conditions. Often, in these tests, the brain of the animal is studied to determine what parts of the brain cause movement, thinking skills or emotions. Animals are hooked to machines that record the way their body behaves while they are doing tasks like running mazes, eating or simply running on a wheel. Machines also study the parts of their brains that work during these tasks.
Other behavioral testing includes machines that study what happens to animals when they are exposed to different elements like music, stressful situations with lights and sounds or human contact and the effect these situations have on the normal behaviors, like running mazes, running on a wheel or performing everyday activities such as eating.
All of these tests allow scientists to get an idea of how the brain works when animals are doing tasks or acting in every day situations and how elements like music, noise, stress or other elements affect animals. From the conclusions, scientists make determinations about how the same elements might affect people.
Cosmetic Testing
Cosmetic companies need to understand if products do what they are supposed to do and whether the products have any lasting adverse effects on animals. Cosmetic companies need to know if they can claim that lipstick really does last all day or that lotion will make your skin soft. Makeup is tested on animals to help determine how long it lasts, whether it rubs off and what colors the makeup produces. Skin care products are tested on animal's skin to see if researchers can clean, moisturize or shave skin the way that the manufacturer claims. Researchers are looking to see, first of all, if the makeup or other products will live up to the labels put on the products. Second, researchers want to discover if the products the manufacturer is selling will cause skin irritation, staining or poisoning when used on animals. The information is collected and used to make assumptions about how the products will work on humans and how the products might affect humans.
Product Testing
Other products are also tested on animals. These might include household cleaning products, food products, chemicals and car products, machinery products and anything else that might be inhaled, smelled, put on the skin or come into contact with by a human. In the tests, the animals are exposed to these products in the same way a human using the products might be exposed to them. The reactions are recorded, photos are taken and health is studied to see what the effect is of the products. These tests are done to discover adverse effects on the animals, which might translate to adverse effects for humans.
Genetic Testing
Some animals are used for genetic testing. These are procedures performed on animals because the effects of them are unknown, and it would be unwise to try out these procedures on humans without knowing the effects. These procedures include separating genes, infusing genes with drugs or putting genes from healthy specimens into unhealthy animals. Other procedures might include giving animals a genetic disease and then trying different gene therapies and medications in hopes to cure the disease.
Other tests done for genetic testing purposes might include mapping genes, using different types of gene therapy to cure problems like diseases or deformities or to create traits. These are tests are usually performed on rats. Genetic testing on animals provides scientists with information necessary to understand human genetics. Genetic testing is not wise to do on humans because changing the genes, injecting genes with drugs, or splicing genes can cause defects, disease and death.
From these tests, scientists learn about genetics in a deeper way than they can from humans, because they are able to delve into genes and study them in animals. They also learn about the affects of different genetic therapies like drugs and gene injections. They can develop new drugs and new gene therapies to help people.
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