If we didn’t test on animals, how would we conduct medical research?

Human clinical and epidemiological studies, cadavers, and computer simulators are faster, more reliable, less expensive, and more humane than animal tests. Ingenious scientists have developed a model “microbrain” from human brain cells to study tumors, as well as artificial skin and bone marrow. We can now test for skin irritancy on cells in a test tube, produce vaccines from human cell cultures, and perform pregnancy tests using blood and urine samples instead of killing rabbits. Says Gordon Baxter, cofounder of Pharmagene Laboratories, a drug research company that uses only human tissues and computers to develop and test drugs, “If you have information on human genes, what’s the point of going back to animals?”

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