WHY EXPERIMENT WITH ANIMALS?
Researchers rely on experiments with animals to answer questions about how drugs and potential medications may affect the brain and body without exposing people to potential toxicity, risk of addiction, or invasive medical procedures. These experiments reduce or eliminate many factors that can make studies with people hard to interpret, such as differences in diet, health, drug history, genetic makeup, socioeconomic circumstances, understanding, and attitudes. While results from animal studies should be extrapolated to humans with caution, their value is incalculable. Researchers follow strict ethical guidelines to minimize animals’ discomfort and ensure that any adversity animals suffer is unavoidable and warranted in terms of the perceived importance of the knowledge to be gained.
