We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation.
- Authors
BEAUCHAMP, TOM L.; DeGRAZIA, DAVID; AKHTAR, AYSHA
- Abstract
Nonhuman animal (“animal”) experimentation is typically defended by arguments that it is reliable, that animals provide sufficiently good models of human biology and diseases to yield relevant information, and that, consequently, its use provides major human health benefits. I demonstrate that a growing body of scientific literature critically assessing the validity of animal experimentation generally (and animal modeling specifically) raises important concerns about its reliability and predictive value for human outcomes and for understanding human physiology. The unreliability of animal experimentation across a wide range of areas undermines scientific arguments in favor of the practice. Additionally, I show how animal experimentation often significantly harms humans through misleading safety studies, potential abandonment of effective therapeutics, and direction of resources away from more effective testing methods. The resulting evidence suggests that the collective harms and costs to humans from animal experimentation outweigh potential benefits and that resources would be better invested in developing human-based testing methods.
- Subjects
ANIMAL experimentation; BIOETHICS; BIOLOGICAL models; RESEARCH evaluation; DRUG development
- Publication
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 2015, Vol 24, Issue 4, p407
- ISSN
0963-1801
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0963180115000079