Does biomedical science have to encompass animal testing? (against it)?!
biomedical scientists conduct research in a laboratory setting, using living organisms as models to conduct experiments. These can include cultured human or animal cells grown outside of the whole organism, small animals such as flies, worms, fish, mice, and rats, or, rarely, larger animals and primates.
Any advice would be welcomed
Answers:
Biomedical research involves more than just testing. While the whole body of research may eventually use animals, individual "scientists" can opt to test on human cells/humans only. Look at the Wikipedia definitions you quoted: it says "can include..." and not "MUST include..."
One thing you must have if you are going into a scientific field is an open mind. Example, if you have to "sacrifice" a white mouse or even a few dozen white mice but the potential is some sort of drug that will alleviate pain for millions of humans, what would you choose to do?
Yes Colleen, it is obvious that many adult things go over your head.. For example, you choose to focus on the few drugs that went "wrong" while totally ignoring the hundreds of thousands of drugs and medical procedures that turned out "right".
If you're asking if I'm for or against, put me down as FOR.
You and your family benefit every day from medical breakthroughs that included animal testing: TB, some cancers, diabetes, polio to name a very few. Today regulations are very strict about testing on animals. Believe me, a lab doesn't test on animals for the fun of it. There's more paper work involved than they like, government regulations, someone has to feed animals and clean cages. Not an especially pleasant job. But you can't do new research without including animals. Veg*ns like to rant about "computer models", but you need data from live animals before you can make a computer model.
If it's not something you can live with, look for another career.
To me, infecting animals with human diseases they would never naturally contract has never made sense and it has led to many serious issues in the medical industry such as with the age old thalidomide case as well as the polio vaccine etc... I believe that animal testing is a medieval practice and a completely economically stupid one
exsft: Its cute how you always try to start an argument with me on practically every question I answer. That seems like a real "adult" thing to do. Get off your pedestal please.
You'll get about a million different answers from every spectrum on here. Go here - http://www.pcrm.org/ - for a more educated response from people who are qualified enough to know what they're talking about.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - http://www.pcrm.org/
