| Liberation Magazine
Data
The
Harms to Humans from Animal Experimentation
Animal
experimentation has misled researchers for centuries, confounding our
understanding of the human body and the diseases that plague it.
Not only does it divert limited resources away from valid science, but by
delaying innovation, therapies and cures, it prolongs suffering and increases
mortality. Fallacious data regarding medications, garnered through animal
experimentation, leads to injury and death.
50
DEADLY
CONSEQUENCES
OF
LAB ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS
- Smoking was thought
non-carcinogenic because smoking-related cancer is difficult to reproduce in
lab animals. Many continued to smoke and to die from cancer.[2]
- Benzene was not
withdrawn from use as an industrial chemical despite clinical and
epidemological evidence that exposure caused leukemia in humans, because
manufacturer-supported tests failed to reproduce leukemia in mice.[1]
- Animal experiments on
rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, monkeys, and baboons revealed no link
between glass fibers and cancer. Not until 1991, due to human studies, did
OSHA label it carcinogenic.[3][4][5]
- Though arsenic was a
known human carcinogen for decades, scientists still found little evidence
in animals to support the conclusion as late as 1977.[6]
This was the accepted view until it was produced in lab animals.[7][8][9]
- Many continued to be
exposed to asbestos and die because scientists could not reproduce the
cancer in lab animals.
- Pacemakers and heart
valves were delayed in development because of physiological differences
between animals they were designed on and humans.
- Animal models of heart
disease failed to show that a high cholesterol/high fat diet increases the
risk of coronary artery disease. Instead of changing their eating habits to
prevent the disease, people continued their lifestyles with a false sense of
security.
- Patients received
medications that were harmful and/or ineffective due to animal models of
stroke.
- Animal studies
predicted that beta-blockers would not lower blood pressure. This withheld
their development.[10][11][12] Even animal
experimenters admitted the failure of animal models of hypertension in this
regard, but in the meantime, there were thousands more stroke victims.
- Surgeons thought they
had perfected radial keratotomy, surgery performed to enable better vision
without glasses, on rabbits, but the procedure blinded the first human
patients. The rabbit cornea is able to regenerate on the underside, whereas
the human cornea can only regenerate on the surface. Surgery is now
performed only on the surface.
- Combined heart lung
transplants were also “perfected” on animals, but the first 3 patients
all died within 23 days.[13] Of 28 patients
operated on between 1981 and 1985, 8 died peri-operatively, and 10 developed
obliterative bronchiolitis, a lung complication that the experimental dogs
did not get. Of those 10, 4 died and 3 never breathed again without the aid
of a respirator. Obliterative bronchiolitis turned out to be the most
important risk of the operation.[14]
- Cyclosporin A inhibits
organ rejection, and its development was watershed in the success of
transplant operations. Had human evidence not overwhelmed unpromising
evidence from animals, it would never have been released.[15]
- Animal experiments
failed to predict the kidney toxicity of the general anesthetic
methoxyflurane. Many people lost all kidney function.
- Animal experiments
delayed the use of muscle relaxants during general anesthesia.
- Research on animals
failed to reveal bacteria as a cause of ulcers and delayed treating ulcers
with antibiotics.
- More than half of the
198 new medications released between 1976 and 1985 were either withdrawn or
relabeled secondary to severe unpredicted side effects.[16]
These side effects included complications like lethal dysrhythmias,
heart attacks, kidney failure, seizures, respiratory arrest, liver failure,
and stroke, among others.
- Flosint, an arthritis
medication, was tested on rats, monkeys and dogs; all tolerated the
medication well. In humans, however it caused deaths.
- Zelmid, an
antidepressant, was tested on rats and dogs without incident. It caused
severe neurological problems in humans.
- Nomifensine, another
antidepressant, was linked to kidney and liver failure, anemia, and death in
humans. Animal testing had given it a clean, side effect-free bill of
health.
- Amrinone, a medication
used for heart failure, was tested on numerous animals and was released
without trepidation. Humans developed thrombocytopenia, a lack of the type
of blood cells that are needed for clotting.
- Fialuridine, an
antiviral medication, caused liver damage in 7 out of 15 people. 5
eventually died and 2 more needed liver transplants.[17]
It worked well in woodchucks.[18][19]
- Clioquinol, an
antidiarrheal, passed tests in rats, cats, dogs and rabbits. It was pulled
off the shelves all over the world in 1982 after it was found to cause
blindness and paralysis in humans.
- Eraldin, a medication
for heart disease, caused 23 deaths despite the fact that no untoward
effects could be shown in animals. When introduced, scientists said it noted
for the thoroughness of the toxicity studies on animals. It caused blindness
and deaths in humans. Afterwards, scientists were unable to reproduce these
results in animals.[20]
- Opren, an arthritis
medication, killed 61 people. Over 3500 cases of severe reactions have been
documented. Opren had been tested on monkeys and other animals without
problems.
- Zomax, another
arthritis drug, killed 14 people and caused many more to suffer.
- The dose of
isoproterenol, a medication used to treat asthma, was worked out in animals.
Unfortunately, it was much too toxic for humans. 3500 asthmatics died in
Great Britain alone due to overdose. It is still difficult to reproduce
these results in animals.[21][22][23][24][25][26]
- Methysergide, a
medication used to treat headaches, led to retroperitoneal fibrosis, or
severe scarring of the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels in the abdomen.[27]
Scientists have been unable to reproduce this in animals.[28]
- Suprofen, an arthritis
drug, was withdrawn from the market when patients suffered kidney toxicity.
Prior to its release researchers had this to say about the animal tests:[29][30]
“...excellent safety profile. No ...cardiac, renal, or CNS [central
nervous system] effects in any species.”
- Surgam, another
arthritis drug, was designed to have a stomach protection factor that would
prevent stomach ulcers, a common side effect of many arthritis drugs.
Although promising in lab animal tests, ulcers occurred in human trials.[31][32]
- Selacryn, a diuretic,
was thoroughly tested on animals. It was withdrawn in 1979 after 24 people
died from drug induced liver failure.[33][34]
- Perhexiline, a heart
medication, was withdrawn when it produced liver failure that had not been
predicted by animal studies. Even when they knew they were looking for a
particular type of liver failure, they could not induce it in animals.[35]
- Domperidone, designed
as a treatment for nausea and vomiting, made human hearts beat irregularly
and had to be withdrawn. Scientists were unable to reproduce this in dogs
even with 70 times the normal dose.[36][37]
- Mitoxantrone, a
treatment for cancer produced heart failure in humans. It was extensively
tested on dogs, which did not manifest this effect.[38][39]
- Carbenoxalone was
supposed to prevent formation of gastric ulcers but caused people to retain
water to the point of heart failure. After scientists knew what it did to
humans they tested it on rats, mice, monkeys, rabbits, without reproducing
this effect. [40][41]
- Clindamycin, an
antibiotic, causes a bowel condition called pseudomenbraneous colitis. It
was tested in rats and dogs every day for one year. They tolerate doses 10
times greater than humans.[42][43][44]
- Animal experiments did
not support the efficacy of valium-type drugs during development or after.[45][46]
- Pharmacia & Upjohn
discontinued clinical tests of its Linomide (roquinimex) tablets for the
treatment of multiple sclerosis after several patients suffered heart
attacks. Of 1,200 patients, 8 suffered heart attacks as a result of taking
the medication. Animal experiments had not predicted this.
- Cylert (pemoline), a
medication used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, caused
liver failure in 13 children. Eleven either died or needed a liver
transplant.
- Eldepryl (selegiline),
a medication used to treat Parkinson’s disease, was found to induce very
high blood pressure. This side effect has not been seen in animals, where it
is used to treat senile dementia and endocrine disorders.
- The diet drug
combination of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine was linked to heart valve
abnormalities and taken off the market although animal studies had never
revealed heart abnormalities."[47]
- The diabetes medication
troglitazone, better known as Rezulin, was tested on animals without
significant problems, but caused liver damage in humans. The company
admitted that at least one patient had died and another had to undergo a
liver transplant as a result.[48]
- The plant digitalis has
been used for centuries to treat heart disorders. However, clinical trials
of the digitalis-derived drug were delayed because it caused high blood
pressure in animals. Human evidence overrode. As a result, digoxin, an
analogue of digitalis, has saved countless lives. Many more could it have
survived had digitalis been released sooner.[49][50][51][52]
- FK 506, now called
Tacrolimus, is an anti-rejection agent that was almost shelved before
proceeding to clinical trials due to severe toxicity in animals.[53][54]
Animal studies suggested that the combination of FK 506 with
cyclosporin might prove more useful.[55] In
fact, just the opposite proved true in humans.[56]
- Animal experiments
suggested that corticosteroids would help septic shock, a severe bacterial
infection of the blood.[57][58] Unfortunately,
humans reacted differently. This treatment increased the death rate in cases
of septic shock.[59]
- Despite the
ineffectiveness of penicillin in his rabbits, Alexander Fleming used the
antibiotic on a very sick patient since he had nothing else to try. Luckily,
Fleming’s initial tests were not on guinea pigs or hamsters, it kills
them. Howard Florey, the Nobel Prize winner credited with co-discovering and
manufacturing penicillin, stated: “How fortunate we didn’t have these
animal tests in the 1940s, for penicillin would probably never been granted
a license, and possibly the whole field of antibiotics might never have been
realized.”
- Fluoride was withheld
as a cavity preventative initially because it caused cancer in rats.[60][61][62]
- The notoriously
dangerous drugs thalidomide and DES were tested in animals and released.
Tens of thousands suffered and died as a result.
- Animal experiments
misinformed researchers about how rapidly HIV replicates. Based on this
false information, patients did not receive prompt therapies and their lives
were shortened.
- Animal-based research
delayed the development of the polio vaccine, according to Dr. Albert Sabin,
its inventor. The first rabies and polio vaccines worked well on animals but
crippled or killed the people who tried them.
- Researchers who work
with animals have succumbed to illness and death due to exposure to diseases
that though harmless to the animal host (such as Hepatitis B) kill humans.
Time, money, and
resources devoted to these experiments could have gone to human-based
research. Clinical studies, in vitro research, autopsies, post-marketing drug
surveillance, computer modeling, epidemiology, and genetic research pose no
hazard to humans and provide accurate results.
Importantly, animal experiments have exhausted resources that could have been
dedicated to educating the public about health hazards and health maintenance,
therein diminishing the incidence of diseases that require treatment.
ANIMAL
EXPERIMENTATION DOES NOT MAKE SENSE
HUMAN-BASED
SCIENCE PREVENTS DISEASE AND CREATES VALID THERAPIES
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