Although the experiments themselves may be conducted behind locked doors, it's time the issue itself came out of the closet. We Americans need to take a more critical look at the efficacy and ethics of animal experiments. Problems like cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, and stroke would all better served by applying nonanimal research approaches. As barnstorming candidate Vice President Al Gore vows to double funding for a new War on Cancer, we must ask why the current one has failed so miserably. Obviously, a new battle strategy is in order.
History shows that animal testing and research are ineffective techniques in our research arsenal.
By contrast, human population studies, clinical intervention trials, and cellular studies are the best foundation for effective research. By studying human populations, for example, epidemiologists discovered the links between smoking and cancer, cholesterol and heart disease, and chemical exposures and birth defects. Clinical intervention trials, such as those on reversing heart disease, have shown how diet and lifestyle changes can reduce one's risk of disease and improve one's health. Other scientific methods, including noninvasive imaging techniques, computer modeling, autopsies, biopsies, and tissue cultures offer less expensive, more accurate alternatives to animal use. Actually, misleading results from animal experiments have often delayed scientific advances.