The results of animal testing and other data are used by federal agencies such as the Health Protection Branch of Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to comply with their regulatory mandates. However, there are still rare instances when statistically precise acute-dose toxicity data are needed. The Draize Test, developed in 1944, has changed considerably over the years to reduce or eliminate any pain test animals may experience. The purpose of safety testing is to ensure that a product is safe when used as directed. The results of these tests also provide scientific data for poison control centres and emergency room personnel should a product be misused.
Toxicology is the study of the harmful effects of substances on living systems.
A substance's relative safety is judged according to its effects under various conditions such as dose, route of administration, duration and frequency of exposure. Because scientists have drastically reduced the number of animals needed for product safety testing, animal rights activists have led the public to believe that the use of laboratory animals can be eliminated from this field altogether. This simply is not true. In order to conduct studies in a living body, researchers must use animals whose systems closely resemble those of humans. In addition to moral and legal considerations, not performing adequate testing places people as well as animals at risk.