Why cant alternatives such as computer models and cell sculptures replace animal research?

Answer 1

A computer can only predict from the data that has been input. The computer follows algorythms that humans develop. Test animals don't know how to behave so they let the test progress naturally. It will never fully replace actual science. Would you feel safe taking off in an airplane that has never really flown, except on a computer. Think about it. You are asking MAN to risk death because you don't want to hurt a lab rat.

Answer 2

Any living organism is an infinitely complex thing. There are billions of cells in an animals body, and in each one millions of molecules and reactions that are essential to the survival of the cell (organism). We are not even counting all of the possible diseases, toxins, and parasites that could hurt this single organism.

The complexity of each and every living thing is so vast that, if we ever were able to get all of the data needed for a simulation, the programmers would be long dead before they finished the project, and you'd probably need a computer the size of a room just to run the simulation!

So, in a sense, it is much easier to raise rats to test on than to collect all of the data needed, and illegal to use humans for the same tests. I agree, doing animal testing for things like makeup and shampoo is definitely cruel and unnecessary, but when it comes down to saving human lives, it's either us or the rats.

Answer 3

Consensual human testing! Animals are different than humans and what might be safe for a lab rat or monkey might not be so good for humans. Or if you know what you have testing is not needed mostly testing is needed on non natural products, which says something! Maybe we need to stop using unnatural products. If I cannot understand the ingredients I tend not too get the product because if I cannot understand what's in it as a human how in the heck is an animal going to help me understand it more? Most things that are unnatural that have been around for a bit have already been tested and the companies just keep testing for some sick reason. Really I think those who run the animal testing companies should just test the products on themselves, if they think the products are good enough to test then they should test on the ones who will use them, themselves and hopefully not but other humans.

Answer 4

Myth: "The use of animals in biomedical research is unnecessary because equivalent information can be obtained by alternative methods"

Those who would seek to abolish animal research often claim that the use of animals in biomedical research is unnecessary because information can be obtained by alternative methods, such as test tubes and computers.

What is often not realised is that scientists have strong ethical, economic and legal obligations to use animals in research only when absolutely necessary. A lot of effort goes into trying to reduce the numbers of animals used, and trying to develop new methods to replace animals. As a result, the number of laboratory animals used annually in this country has almost halved in the last 20 years.

Non-animal methods - tissue culture, computer modelling, studies of patients and populations - are very widely used. In fact, only about five pence in every pound spent on medical research goes on animal studies. The word alternatives, often used to describe these non-animal methods, can lead to confusion because these methods are generally used alongside animal studies, not instead of them. All these techniques have their place, and it is rarely possible to substitute one for another.

There are stages in any research programme when it is not enough to know how individual molecules, cells or tissues behave. The living body is much more than just a collection of these parts, and we need to understand how they interact, how they are controlled. There are ethical limits to the experiments that we can perform in people, so the only alternative is to use the most suitable animal to study a particular disease or biological function.

It is illegal to expose patients to new medicines without being confident that they are likely to benefit and not be seriously harmed. Treatments must, therefore, be tested first in animals to establish their probable effectiveness and safety. They are then tested on human volunteers. The process is not perfect but testing in whole animals is by far the best way to protect people.

For example, it is difficult to even imagine what range of test tube techniques or the complexity of computer systems that would be necessary to mimic the amazing events that occur during the development and birth of a new baby. With present-day technology, and even in the foreseeable future, this is simply not possible. By contrast, appropriate whole animal tests can detect potentially harmful effects of new treatments on foetal development and other events during pregnancy. Thus another thalidomide disaster is most unlikely.

No one wants to use animals unnecessarily or to cause them unnecessary suffering. The guiding principles in animal research today are called the Three R’s:

* Replacement, to replace animal procedures with non-animal techniques wherever possible
* Reduction, to minimise the number of animals used
* Refinement, the way experiments are carried out, to make sure animals suffer as little as possible

Answer 5

Unfortunately models are only as good as the information they are built from. We still know so little about how animal systems work that there's a very good chance that a computer model would give us essentially useless information about most things we explored. The old computer acronym GIGO applies here: garbage in, garbage out.

Answer 6

because to get the data that the computer would need to do the calculations they would have to test it on animals anyway.

why dont they just test stuff on criminals! and people who have the death sentence or life in prison?

Answer 7

Because they dont have soul ... simulation cannot work here ... animals body may look like human body ... and they have a short life span that help get results quickly

Answer 8

Please stop swatting mosquitoes.