THE MYTHS OF VIVISECTION
Bernhard Rambeck, MDMyth 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / Intro / Next Page
Third myth: "Medical research is not possible without animal experiments"
A few decades ago, the term 'alternative methods' was not known, and some years ago it was still pretended that the LD5O toxicity test and similar brutalities were absolutely necessary; scientists declared almost unanimously that animal experiments were unavoidable, since only the 'normal' animal could show the effects of drugs. In the meantime, scientists have become more circumspect: the pharmaceutical industry constantly explains that many animal tests have already been replaced, that the number of animals in experiments has now been greatly reduced and that toxicologists can very largely abandon LD5O tests. In many areas alternative methods, such as in-vitro systems with test-tube methods using cell cultures, micro-organisms and so on, have been worked out.
Today, in nearly all fields of medicine, in-vitro methods are being used in addition to animal experiments. In some areas scientists are still at the beginning; in others, as for example in MDS research, in-vitro methods have hitherto had almost the only successes. The possibilities of the in-vitro system are innumerable. They include the study of pharmacological mechanisms, the evaluation of toxic risks, the genetic and teratogenic effects of chemical substances, the study of pathogenic mechanisms of viruses, the production of vaccines, its use in cancer therapy, the development of test models for immunological research and so forth.
This development shows that, under the pressure of public opinion, the abolition of animal experimentation is possible and, furthermore, that many experiments which were recently declared to be an unavoidable part of modern medicine have nonetheless been replaced in a matter of a few years. I am absolutely convinced that the abolition of animal experiments is possible, and in the foreseeable future will be achieved, because medical science itself will recognize that animal experimentation leads to a dead end.
Myth 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / Intro