I m amused most by the fourth argument, that we should use alternatives like computer simulations. We have to use real physiological data to feed our machines. One activist I know keeps arguing we should use pet scans, which can provide an image of how a living human organ is functioning, as a way of avoiding the use of animals. He ignores the fact that it took Lou Sokoloff in my program at the National Institute of Mental Health eight years of animal research to develop the method upon which the pet scan is based. There are other arguments.
Activists say animal research diverts funds from medical treatment.
We could divert all our research funds and it would have no impact on treating sick people. They also say pets are at risk. But more than 90 percent of the animals used are rodents, which most of us don t regard as pets. I should add that over 13 million cats and dogs are killed in shelters every year. One reason is that animal rights organizations have drained much of the funding from animal welfare organizations, so they can t run adoption or neutering programs the way they once did.