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From: skellyjp@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (James P Skelly)
Newsgroups: sci.research,talk.politics.misc,sci.bio
Subject: Re: animal research
Keywords: none
Message-ID: <5963@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 31 Jan 89 00:49:40 GMT
References: <221@anselm.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 52

In article <221@anselm.UUCP>, sperry@anselm.UUCP (MALF) writes:
>     Using animals for scientific research is completely unnecessary and
> cruel to the animals.  With todays technology we do not need to use
> animals for the research.  The tests done have been done at least 100
> times allready. 

This is wrong.  There is no substitute for the use of animals in medical
research nor is animal research cruel to the animals.  Except in
rare cases animals are given all the care that pets would get
when they go to a vet.  Since so many people seem to be unaware of how
animal research has benefitted medical practice, including veterinary
medicine, I've included some information. 

The following is taken from the pamphlet "What if - There were no animal
research?" put out by the Foundation For Biomedical Research.

-Polio would kill or cripple thousands of unvaccinated children and
adults this year.

-7,500 newborns who develop jaundice each year would develop cerebral
palsy, now preventable through phototherepy

-Most of the nations 500,000 insulin-dependent diabetics wouldn't be
insulin dependent. They would be dead.

-Many of the 200,000 individuals who benefitted from coronary bypass
surgery in 1984 would never have seen 1985.

-The U.S. would experience 1.5 million cases of rubella....over 400
times the current annual incidence of the disease.

-50 million Americans would be at risk from heart attack, stroke or
kidney failure for lack of medication to control their high blood
pressure.

-The 100,000 arthritics who each year receive hip replacements would be
confined to wheelchairs.

-Without cataract surgery, more than a million people would lose their
vision in at least one eye.

-Death would be a certainty for the 7,500 desparately ill patients who
receive kidney transplants each year.

-There would be no kidney dialysis to extend the lives of thousands more
victims of end-stage renal disease.

-Without chemotherapy, doctors would not be able to save the children
who now survive acute lymphocytic leukemia.

-Hundreds of thousands of people disabled by strokes and head injuries
would not benefit from rehabilitation techniques developed in animals.