Ask A Scientist© Biology Archive

Author:      virginia reid
Text:        Is it possible to test new drugs without using animals?

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      moodywj
Text:        It is certainly true that scientists find cures and treatments 
for human diseases from animals.  Of course, once the first work is done on 
animals, the findings have to be tested on a few humans before everybody 
starts using the treatment.  But without working on animals first, we would 
not have many cures for diseases at all.  Can you imagine trying things first 
on people?  There are people who believe that scientists should never test 
things out on animals, but even those people probably have been helped by the 
results of animal work by scientists.