THE MYTHS OF VIVISECTION
Bernhard Rambeck, MDMyth 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / Intro / Next Page
Fourth myth: "Animal research is necessary because the important diseases are not yet curable."
The fact that the important illnesses cannot be cured, or even effectively influenced, by modern medicine shows how little animal experiments can contribute to the elimination of human diseases. Various severe disturbances, from cancer to all the possible chronic and degenerative changes, can without doubt be forcibly achieved in the animal model; but they have nothing in common with the diseases of man, which are caused by different multiple factors and, above all, by disturbances of the fine interplay between body and mind. As long as conventional medicine does not recognise that animal research is not only not necessary but, on the contrary, represents a complete block because of the totally different psychosomatic conditions involved, any real development in medicine is unikely.
This is scandalous, since today's medicine could, right from the start, be in a position, due to its authority and influence, to prevent most of the apparently uneliminable illnesses of civilization. After the decrease of infectious diseases in the industrialised countries, the present physical and psychosomatic diseases appear to be connected with factors which can, in principle, be influenced. These factors are smoking, alcohol, incorrect nutrition (with too much meat and fat), lack of exercise, stress and so on. In addition to these, there are factors which could be largely controlled by society, such as toxic substances in the air and water, and dangers due to radiation.
The logical consequences of the fact that most of the important illnesses are not curable cannot be a further extension of animal experimentation; it should rather be the investment of considerable effort towards prevention, control and research into the causes of these illnesses. Studies in Germany with vegetarian and meat-eating control groups have demonstrated more wholesome nutrition, without meat, considerably reduces cancer risk, decreases the probability of cardiovascular diseases and increases life expectancy.
Medical science is desperately looking for animal models for the diseases of modern civilization. But why do we need models, when the causes of present-day illnesses are so obvious and, above all, could so easily be influenced by reasonable health policies?