There are a lot of other aspects too, Evelyn. The experiments are also unreliable. Animals don't get the same diseases as we do. Their bodies don't always officiate (function?) the same as human bodies. They develop other sorts of heart diseases and cancer, and they get them from other causes. Animal testing is unethical and not very efficient.
There are a lot of examples. If one injects a substance in a male rat and it causes cancer, then a female rat doesn't have to get cancer if you inject the same substance. If there's a big difference between the sexes, then it will of course be a big difference between the species!
Sheep can eat a lot of arsenic without any problems, but a human being wouldn't live very long...
In the 1950's 27 population studies showed that there was a connection (relation?) between smoking and lung cancer. But animal tests on dogs said that there was no connection. They claimed that the animal tests were more reliable and the truth about the causes of smoking was delayed.
A woman in USA sued a company because the shampoo she used caused here eye-damages. Tests on rabbits had caused damages, but the court the said that the company didn't have to pay the woman any compensation for the damages because there were no evidence that animal tests on rabbits can predict how a human being is going to react...
There are other examples of tests that have delayed medicines or have caused the death of humans.
There are a lot of alternatives to the animal tests. (Not for all tests though)
Most of the diseases that killed a lot of humans weren't cured thanks to medicines. The main reasons to why the death toll declined was social reforms: better food, habitation and hygiene, better working conditions, cleaner water and more efficient drains.
The indusrial societies very often try to cure diseases instead of preventing them. There are of course some diseases that can't be prevented, but one must know that 80-90% of all cancer is caused by unhealthy food, smoking (30% of all cancer!), too much sun, radiation, chemicals (polution) and work environment.
Another thing that one has to remember is that 25 000 children die each year because they don't have any clean water. 840 million people don't have enough food. 2 thousand million (billions) don't have access to clean water and 3 thousand million don't get any health care. If we spend just a little bit of all those money we spend on animal experiments we could save a lot of lives. But the lives of Africans, South Americans and Asians aren't worth much compared to the lives Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians and other countries where white people live. That's unfortunately the truth.
If you want some more information about animal tests and other animal right questions, then this is a good site: http://www.nsmpd.se
Click on "länkar" to the left.
"IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT'S WRONG, YOU'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT"
Henry Spira
"THE OWNER OF A SLAVE DESTROYS TWO FREEDOMS -THAT OF HIS SLAVE AND THAT OF HIMSELF"
John Bryant
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