Techniques developed and tested on animals have made it possible to correct congenital heart defects, perform microsurgery to reattach severed limbs, and carry out organ transplants. New York University supports the development and use of techniques that can supplement or replace animal research. However, there is no definitive alternative to the use of animals. Even the most sophisticated non-animal methodologies cannot mimic the complicated interactions among cells, tissues and organs that occur in living beings. Ultimately, virtually all new drugs and treatments must be tested on animals serving as surrogates for us as well as their own or other species of animals.
Modern medicine is built on the irrefutable benefits of animal research.
Each year in this country, thousands of patients with diseased kidneys, lungs, livers, hearts, and other organs are treated by transplantation. When surgeons first began to consider the possibility of replacing diseased organs with healthy ones, they fa ced as a formidable barrier, the patient's rapid rejection of the donor tissue. The basis of this rejection phenomenon was uncovered early in the century by scientists who tested transplantation in animal experiments. They found that when transplantatio n was performed between animals of different species or between genetically different animals of the same species, the transplants were quickly rejected. However, transplants between genetically identical individuals were accepted.