Finding Sources

            There’s something about starting the search for books and articles on your topic; it’s an exciting feeling. You almost forget how little you know and how much you’re learning as you start reading through many different sources.

            My trip to the library yielded me three very interesting books: Why Animal Experimentation Matters, Animal experimentation: Opposing Viewpoints, and Animal Experimentation, (whose citations are available in the Works Cited page here.)

            Just reading through some of these chapters has already given me ideas on how to approach or organize my research. It’s interesting to see how the arguments are built. For example, in Animal Experimentation: Opposing Viewpoints, Jack Botting and Adrian Morrison discuss in their article, "Animal Research is Vital to Medicine," how animal experimentation was crucial to many medical developments and refute some of the claims of animal-rights supporters.

          What I found most interesting was how they defended the use of animals. Many sulfanilamide drugs were tested on animals, and this was proved to be a good choice. Prontosil, one of the compounds, was found to have no effect on bacteria in vitro, but successful in combating infection in mice. From this other drugs were created to treat infections. (Botting, Morrison 81).

In Why Animal Experimentation Matters, part IX of the article "The Paradigm Shift Towards Animal Happiness" give a background of how important animal experimentation has been in medical research—from curing smallpox to finding a vaccine for rabies. The most interesting part is that these developments have helped both humans and animals. “Vaccines for distemper, parvovirus, rabies… [and] antibiotics—all these and much more have been developed using research animals” (Tannenbaum 124). Treatments for diseases, and even nutritional foods, have all bettered the lives of animals through animal experimentation.

“Animal Research Saves Lives” (from Animal Experimentation) reiterates the important role animal testing has played in history. Sabin describes how animal experimentation led to the polio vaccination. I agree with how she explains that those who believe animal experimentation should end are not looking at the big picture. “Every child who has… [had] the Sabin Vaccine knows polio only as a word… Thank heavens it’s not a part of their reality” (Sabin 11). This last quote shows just how important animals have been in research, and that by banning it, we are possibly shutting the door on possible future treatments.

This is just the beginning. As I continue to go through these articles, I hope to discover not just the good, but also the bad of animal experimentation. Despite past developments, is it still valuable today? What are some of the claims made by animal-rights supporters? Will they cut holes into the idea of the importance of animal testing, and how will they, in turn, be contradicted?