Expert: Robin Flynn - 3/24/2008

Question
I'm Aaron a 13 yearold boy in middle school. i have to do a reashearch project about which companies use animals to run tests. I have a couple questions to ask, please anwser as best you can.
1. Do you know of which companies use animal testing methods?
2.What are some alternitives to animla testing?
3.Where did animal testing start, where is it mainly now.
4. do you have any tips on how to write an effective interview on this subject?
5. Do you personally feel animal testing is okay on small creatures, or at least better?

Please get back to me as soon as possible
                       Sincererly,
                           Anomal lover Aaron J.Little


Answer
Hi Aaron,

I’m glad to see you are an animal lover too. I don’t usually answer homework questions but I will give you some websites so you can find the answers to your questions.


1. Do you know of which companies use animal testing methods? This website will give you a list of who do test who don’t test. http://www.caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp

2. What are some alternatives to animal testing? This factsheet will answer this question.
http://www.peta.org/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=87


3. Where did animal testing start, where is it mainly now.
History of animal testing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animal_testing
Today in animal testing: http://www.stopanimaltests.com/TrendsinScience.asp


4. Do you have any tips on how to write an effective interview on this subject?

There are many questions you can ask. I personally love the questions on the site I have included below because there are a lot of hard questions that some animal lovers have a hard time responding too.  
http://www.stopanimaltests.com/f-pointcounterpoint.asp


I have also included a list of questions from one of my favorite organizations – The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
http://www.pcrm.org/resch/anexp/faq.html



5. Do you personally feel animal testing is okay on small creatures, or at least better?
Personally, I don’t feel it is okay to subject any creature to cruelty and pain no matter what their size may be. There are many alternatives to animal testing that I believe science should move towards. Not only to help animals but also to help humans. Why? We test on animals that do not have the same physical make up as us and unfortunately when we find something that may be safe in an animal it is not always safe in a human. Therefore, we should stop animal testing for the safely and health of both humans and animals.

For the Animals,
Robin