If I don't play(?) devil's advocate, who will?
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The thing about animal testing is; it doesn't HAVE to make sense!
As said in the video: "We know that cigarettes are unhealthy. So why do we have to make monkeys smoke them anyway?"
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Actually, we have to justify every procedure before we go ahead. That was thee first thing we were taught in our first animal behaviour practical (we let the flies go free afterwards, to the infinite chagrin of everyone in the building). They're experiments, yes, but there has to be a purpose and method beforehand, and a necessary one, if live animals are going to be involved (most experiments leave the subject none the worse afterwards). I fear for the justification of some experiments, we are not free of rogues and unpleasant characters, but experiments with smoking will continue until people stop smoking, it is as simple as that. These particular experiments sound just like the ones that established that Vitamin C can help stave off the harmful effects of smoking on the foetus of a pregnant mother who won't quit. Come to think of it, this information might just stop more mothers from quitting, but the implications of releasing scientific discoveries to the world is not the issue at hand.
As a rule of thumb for consumer products: if it has a health warning on it, it was probably tested on animals. If it doesn't have a health warning on it, it was more than likely tested on animals. If the product's packaging does not explicitly state "this product was not tested on animals" then the chances are that it was tested on animals. If the product claims "
*corporation brand* does not support the testing of products on animals and funds research into alternatives" then it is a pretty safe bet that it was tested on animals, albeit begrudgingly (or so they claim).
And if it is a medicinal product, a drug or band aid or medicine or ointment or treatment, from non-prescription to surgery technique, by Odd, you'd better believe that it was tested on animals.
And how much of these modern products and lifesavers would have been allowed to be used on humans, both commercially and for trials? Not many, I'd wager. Whether you like it or not, the vast majority of us have built our lifestyles, at least in part, on the backs of billions of animal test subjects. Which, I hasten to add, is infrequently the kind of procedures that PETA would ever show.
This doesn't mean I support animal testing wholesale. I don't think that cosmetics and convenience products are worth testing on animals. Though if we called a halt to that we could expect to see a lot less of that sort of stuff on the shelves, certainly fewer new products. Primate research, too, I can't abide, it feels too much like cannibalism. But then we would say bye-bye to our most valuable infectious diseases research, including Hepatitis and HIV.
I know how everyone reacts when they here about animal testing, particularly as portrayed by PETA. It is a gut reaction of disgust and horror that most of us are familiar with. Even some actual researchers I've spoken to who perform such research have shared the same sentiment and will like hell there was another way. But they believe in the work they do and can't provide an equal simulation of a living organism, even a living system. There's just no way right now. Opponents to animal testing, both in the scientific community and outside of it, have been calling for alternatives for over a hundred years. They might have made more progress with their campaign had they offered one.
I just wonder how many people, if they knew what they would have to give up, would have the strength of mind and character to maintain their vehement opposition. We're all Khanzumerz at heart. If you want to change it, talking on a forum won't help, and campaigning noisily hasn't done much good. either. Researchers have gone to work despite being firebombed. The only way is to stop supporting products and procedures that rely on animal testing. I doubt this will be successful either, after all, you will have to request that you not be resuscitated should the time come.
Mars Candy murders animals in cruel testings
