. The in vivo rabbit skin method takes two to four weeks to complete (6). There are many more alternative procedures that are being developed and improved up on every day, and so the hope for replacement of animals in the laboratory continues to grow stronger. Establishments such as the John Hopkins Center for the Alternatives to Animal Testing, the International Foundation for Ethical Research, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association, and the Soap and Detergent Association have all started their own programs to validate alternatives. Although some critics are doubtful that replacement methods will ever be able to take the place of hands-on animal experimentation, the struggle continues for avid animal rights supporters to find alternative testing procedures. The question of whether animals have the right to be protected from such research experiments is a hard one to answer, and has been disputed for many years. The question may be easier to answer when it is asked about testing for such things as cosmetics, but when it comes to cancer studies and the like, the lines arent quite as clear cut. It is up each individual to decide whether the life of an animal is just as important, or more important, than research that benefits mankind. In his autobiography, The Story Of My Experiments, Mohandas K. Gandhi states his opinion on animal experimentation:To my mind the life of the lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of the lamb for the sake of the human body. I hold that, the more helpless the creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man. (9) Although companies are continuously searching for alternatives to animal research, the number of animals used in experiments actually continues to increase. The old test, the in vivo method, must be done along with the new test, the in vitro method, to ensure that the new test will have results tha...
