Question: how can you bring yourself to test on animals?

David Foley answered on 10 Nov 2014:

Tough, but great question Sophie. I’m going to be brutally honest in my answer and I hope you can see where I’m coming from.

Animal testing tends to stir strong emotions – and for good reason. If there were a good way to eliminate animal testing, I think everyone in the drug discovery industry would take it. The simple fact is however that there currently is no such technology.

Until then, I “bring myself” to work with animals because there are people suffering at the end of it all. I say “bring myself” because I feel no shame or embarrassment about what I do. In fact, I’m very proud of what I do. I and my colleagues are trying to (and do) save millions of lives – more than any doctor or surgeon ever has or will ever do. Animal testing is a necessary part of the process, and is one of the most tightly regulated (we operate by the 3R principles – replace, refine and reduce). We don’t do it lightly, we don’t do it on a whim and we hate it when we get it wrong because not only does an animal suffer (and they do, sorry) – but a patient is going to have to wait another few years (if ever) before they get a drug that can help them.

If we didn’t test on animals, tragedies like the thalidomide scandal would be all the more frequent. Medicinal chemists are haunted by such disasters, and we cannot allow them to happen again. Our goal in life is to help people, not harm them.

I would be nice if the world was black and white all the time, but look me in the eye and say you would deny your parents, siblings, friends or yourself a life-saving drug because they were developed using animal testing?