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Biological Differences
Although certain animals may be similar to humans in some ways, animals and humans are not biologically identical. The biological differences between humans and animals make it possible for a chemical or substance to be both safe for animals yet toxic to humans. Cigarettes smoke, X-rays, low-level ionizing radiation, arsenic and asbestos have all proved safe during animal testing according to both the Medical Research Modernization Committee and the Global Action Network. Differences between animals and humans have also delayed medical discoveries, as they did with the polio vaccine. Testing on monkeys led researchers to conclude that polio was spread as a respiratory disease rather than through a digestive route, leading to ineffectual preventive measures and a delay in vaccination development. The Global Action Network claims that testing penicillin on rabbits delayed the drug's use in humans for 10 years -- and animal testing could have stopped the drug's development altogether had it been tested on guinea pigs, who die when given the drug.
Psychological Differences
Scientists have looked to animals when studying emotional as well as physical problems. One example of this type of testing, pointed out in the Medical Research Modernization Committee report, is Henry Harlow's maternal deprivation experiments. During these experiments, Harlow took infant monkeys away from their mothers and raised them in isolation to prove the importance of maternal contact in human development. Besides being cruel, it can be argued that Harlow's experiment and others like it are useless when applied to humans because they fail to take into account the familial, social and cultural issues found in the human psychological makeup. This same argument has been used to refute the use of animal testing to study certain physical human problems, such as alcohol and drug addiction. Although these diseases clearly have a physical component, drug and alcohol testing done on animals ignores important human psychological factors present in these diseases.
Moral Issues
Animal testing is a controversial subject and a practice that many people find immoral and cruel. Many animals do die as a result of the experiments performed on them. But unlike human subjects, these animals cannot choose to give or refuse consent to be experimented on. Some animals are subjected to painful medical procedures and conditions without anesthesia or other forms of pain relief. Although scientists claim that the percentage of animals that experience pain without relief is small, it can easily be argued that any undue suffering is too much. In the United States, the Animal Welfare Act does not protect mice, rats and birds. But according to the Medical Research Modernization Committee, these animals make up more than 90 percent of all laboratory animals. While the physical condition of laboratory animals has always been a cause of debate, concerns about the emotional well being of laboratory animals is growing as studies find more and more animal species capable of showing emotions similar to those of humans.