These Solutions Are Creating A Future Without Animal Testing
Testing on animals is outdated, ineffective, and inhumane. There has never been as many alternative solutions as there are at this moment in time, and yet still millions of animals are suffering and dying for the sake of medical research. The history of animal testing goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece, and has been used for research and testing ever since. It’s time to come out of the dark ages and for the cruelty to end completely.
One of the strongest arguments against the use of animal testing is simple common sense: humans are not lab rats, and lab rats are not humans. Although there is a variety of animals that suffer from animal testing and experiments, there is the irrefutable fact that the scientific findings on an animal will never be exactly replicable in humans. In fact, Dr. Richard Klausner, former director of the US National Cancer Institute has stated that the “history of cancer research has been the history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn’t work in human beings.”
For a practice steeped in a barbaric history, things are beginning to change in the US and worldwide. In 2019 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their plan to ‘reduce and eventually aim to eliminate’ testing on mammals. They plan to reduce testing by 30 percent by 2025 and eliminate the studies by 2035, though “some may still be approved on a case-by-case basis.”
The elimination of animal testing has become more and more popular in public opinion over the last two decades. A 2022 Gallup poll shows that 43 percent of Americans say that medical testing on animals is “morally wrong,” whereas only 26 percent agreed with this in 2001. Eliminating animal testing has also become more scientifically feasible because of the solutions available that are more effective than testing on animals.
A lung-on-a-chip, coated with human lung cells and serves as an alternative to animal testing for researching lung diseases and evaluating potential medications. Photo: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
Solutions Going Forward
There are three big categories of solutions that can replace testing on animals: cell cultures, the use of real human tissues, and computer models.
Cell Cultures
For cell cultures, scientists have been able to build human cells into 3-D structures, known as ‘organoids’ which are able to display and mimic the same functions as human body parts. These blobs of tissue are no bigger than a single pea, and yet they can teach scientists how an entire heart or lung would function in certain conditions.
Organs-On-Chip
A similar approach has been employed with the ‘organs-on-chip’ method. These chips are “clear, flexible, polymer gadgets,” and are roughly the size of a standard flash drive. They contain different kinds of human cells similarly to the organoids, but they differ from the ‘mini organs’ because scientists can run drugs through channels within the chips to replicate how something may run through the human body. The transparent chips also allow scientists to see the functionality of the ‘organ’ at the cellular level, something that is entirely lacking from standard animal experimentation.
Artificial Intelligence
Another solution comes along with the rapid advancement of technology. Computer models that use artificial intelligence (AI) are already outperforming animal testing in predicting adverse effects of certain drugs. AI can use deep learning techniques in order to accurately provide information on chemical compounds and how they would behave in humans. Not only is the AI able to be more accurate than tests on animals, it is categorically cheaper. A new pesticide that may require 30 separate animal tests may cost up to 20 million dollars to complete. AI, on the other hand, will only continue to become faster, cheaper, and more effective.
Real human tissue, not chips or cells grown in a lab, can also provide meaningful research to end animal testing. This tissue could come from a procedure as simple as a biopsy, whether the tissue is healthy or diseased, when donated by a volunteer. Human tissue also provides invaluable information post-mortem for people that have chosen to be organ donors.
“We have cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn’t work in human beings.”
Importance of Solutions
The strategy for solutions is currently based on ‘3 Rs,’ reduction, refinement, and replacement. Refinement of animal testing, which is essentially focused on making experiments more tolerable for the animals, is not enough. Given the plethora of solutions, it is time to focus solely on reduction with the intent to fully replace all animal testing.
Unfortunately, the entire business of animal testing is often done under the guise of loopholes or goes unreported entirely. For instance, in the US, rats, mice, fish, amphibians, and birds are not “defined as animals” under regulations, meaning that they are not legally protected as other animals are, and are often not included in any statistics. Despite this, PETA estimates that over 110 million animals die in the US from experimentation each year, a truly staggering figure.
It is time to stop believing that inhumane tests performed on animals will solve conditions in humans. Countless drugs that go through animal testing without causing adverse effects go on to fail in clinical trials. For a long time there were not feasible solutions to animal testing so it was more of a necessary evil. Now, animal experimentation remains evil, but lacks the necessity to justify it.
How You Can Take Action
You can read more about the cruelty of animal testing here, or listen to the Species Unite podcast episodes focused on different forms of animal testing here. You can sign our petitions to stop these practices, but your everyday actions and choices also hold power. Buying cruelty-free products, whether it is cosmetics or household items, is crucial to ending animal testing. Always look for the Leaping Bunny symbol on your products, which means that the product has reached the gold standard in cruelty-free.
Written by Olivia Deming
Olivia is currently studying Political Science and Anthropology at Columbia University. She writes and edits for the Columbia Political Review, and is the President of the Women's Wrestling Club.
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