search has been conducted on animals. “Animals were used in early studies to discover how blood circulates through the body, the effect of anesthesia, and the relationship between bacteria and disease” (AMA 59). Experiments such as these seem to be outdated and actually are by today’s means, scientists now study commonly for three general purposes: (1) biomedical and behavioral research, (2) education, (3) drug and product testing (AMA 60). These three types of experiments allow scientists to gain vast amounts of knowledge about human beings. Biomedical and behavioral experiments are directed at determining how behavior is affected by certain factors used on the animals. Educational experiments help train students in school. Majors like medicine, physiology, and general science all use dead animals in experiments. Drug and product testing use animals to determine the safety of new drugs and how toxic they really are. Without the presence of animals in research, what else would scientists use, a human being? “Animals are important in research precisely because they have complex body systems that react and interact with stimuli much as humans do” (AMA 61). This quote directly correlates with some of the common household pets, which are considered important resources for biomedical and behavioral research. One clear example of an invaluable household pet used in biomedical research are dogs. Dogs are used for many types of research mainly because they have the same relative size of organs when compared to humans. “The first successful kidney transplant was performed in a dog and techniques used to save the lives of ‘blue babies,’ and babies with structural defects in their hearts, were developed with dogs. Open heart surgical techniques, coronary bypass surgery and heart transplantation were all developed using dogs” (AMA 61).Other animals that are typically used in experi...
