Animal testing isn't just an ethical problem – let's invest in safer methods | Andrew Knight | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Animal testing isn't just an ethical problem – let's invest in safer methods | Andrew Knight | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Personally I will always consider the benefit to humans before cost to animals  (with the caveat that how we treat any lifeform can have consequences for our own nature and hence how we treat each other, which is why unnecessary cruelty is an issue) and so am very much in favour of animal testing. However, only of course if it is a reliable and effective, which means unsettling to read the following :

• Modern drugs are more carefully studied than ever before. After lengthy tests on animals, those considered safe, and potentially effective, enter very limited human trials. About 92% are then weeded out and deemed unsafe or ineffective.
• The remaining 8% are some of the most closely scrutinised compounds on the planet. You might be forgiven, therefore, for assuming they are safe. But at least 39 studies over three decades have ranked adverse drug reactions as an important cause of hospital deaths. Only heart disease, cancer and stroke are more reliably lethal.
• The strains placed on healthcare systems and public finances should not be underestimated. Adverse drug reactions account for some 4% of UK hospital bed capacity, at an annual cost of around £466m.

Such statistics definitely need to be investigated and considered, since there is no point in cost even to animals, if no benefit to us...