Front page headlines in national newspapers recently heralded two reports questioning methods used in animal cancer tests. The reports, written by scientists, were printed in the August 31 issue of the journal Science. This simple lie ridicules the ethical, philosophical and scientific burdens of the topic and the attitudes of the vast majority of biomedical researchers. More importantly, it seriously threatens the advancement of human and animal well-being. The complexities of the animal testing issue must be reinforced, for the complex truth has much greater value for humans and animals than does the simple lie.
Animal testing provides a means of evaluating the effects of chemicals on animals.
It is true that more efficient in vitro tests are developed each year. In vitro tests typically evolve from the scientist's discovery of the biological mechanism of disease, which originates in part from whole animal studies. Pregnancy testing is an example. The current wave of public interest in animal welfare has accelerated efforts to replace animal testing with in vitro alternatives. However, devotion to this cause must not give way to haste, lest public safety fall by the wayside.