Animal Experiments In Biomedical Research
This article offers a comprehensive historical look at animal experimentation, primarily in Europe. It examines pertinent moral and social issues and discusses some of the main proponents and opponents in the debate. This backgrounder gives insight into the present-day take on the use of animals in biomedical research and suggests that the long-standing controversy on the topic is far from over. While the main arguments of the debate have not varied much over the years, the author concludes that progress has been made in terms of the welfare of research animals and transparency regarding their use.
[Abstract excerpted from original source.]
“The use of non-human animals in biomedical research has given important contributions to the medical progress achieved in our day, but it has also been a cause of heated public, scientific and philosophical discussion for hundreds of years. This review, with a mainly European outlook, addresses the history of animal use in biomedical research, some of its main protagonists and antagonists, and its effect on society from Antiquity to the present day, while providing a historical context with which to understand how we have arrived at the current paradigm regarding the ethical treatment of animals in research.”
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/3/1/238