YJA Convention 1996 07 San Francisco CA Second

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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Scientific Issues:
While vivisection has received more attention and funding, clinical and epidemiological (studying the natural course of disease within human populations) studies have had a much more profound impact on human health. For example the connection between cholesterol and heart disease was first established through epidemiology. Clinical and epidemiological evidence linking smoking to lung cancer was established long before warnings of the dangers of smoking were released to the general public. Because animal experimentation failed to reach the same conclusion, warning labels on cigarettes were delayed for over a decade.
It is true that mortality rates have dropped considerably during this century. However, 92% of this decline occurred prior to the introduction of vaccines and treatments derived through animal experiments. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rise in life expectancy can be attributed mainly to changes in lifestyle, environmental factors, and improvements in sanitation.
Reliability:
Animal tests are not good indicators of what will occur in humans. We end up being the "human guinea pig" for every new drug, chemical, and cosmetic. The U.S. General Accounting Office reviewed the drugs marketed between 1976 and 1985. Of these, 52% were found to be more dangerous than pre-market animal studies indicated, with adverse side effects including permanent disability and death. Consider the following results of tests done to determine the dosage of dioxin required to kill the following animals (per kilogram of body weight):
female rat
male rat
guinea pig hamster
The vast difference in toxicity among such closely related animals clearly shows how preposterous it is to extrapolate this sort of data to human beings.
Use of Resources:
45 mcg
22 mcg
1 mcg
5000 mcg
Ironically, many patients have been denied access to treatment because of lack of funds or because of our reliance on animal tests. While humans seek and are denied treatment for alcoholism, drug use, AIDS, etc. there are animals in laboratories around the world being artificially addicted to drugs and alcohol and being exposed to the AIDS virus. Numerous AIDS patients have had to sue the government in order to gain access to drugs which are yet to be approved. People with AIDS do not have the luxury of waiting for this approval, through the enormously time consuming animal testing procedures currently required by the FDA.
We often assume that animal research (funded by our tax money) is being used on worthwhile and life-saving experiments. However, a large percentage of the experiments are done more for political and economic reasons than humanitarian reasons. In fact, there are many examples of wasted financial resources in animal research. Here is an example of one such "study": Final finding in a study conducted on
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