When Did Animal Testing Start ?
The earliest evidence of testing on animals goes back to the writings of Greeks in the second and subsequently fourth century BCE. Testing carried out on living animal was first performed by Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and then by Erasistratus (304-258 BCE). Pigs and goats were first dissected by Galen, a physician, in the 2nd century. Galen hailed from Rome. |
Animal dissection for experimentation purposes to carry out successful surgeries in human was first introduced by Avenzoar an Arabic physician and Moorish Spain in the twelfth century. Humans have been using animals for testing since ages for primarily bio medical research. The famous Germ Theory was first postulated by Louis Pasteur in the year1880 by induction of anthrax in sheep. Later, in the year 1890, Ivan Pavlov illustrated classical conditioning using the dogs. In 1922, a revolutionary breakthrough was achieved in the treatment of diabetes when for the first time insulin was successfully isolated from dogs.
Antibiotic treatment and vaccine for leprosy was first introduced in the1970s using armadillos. The field of genetics had achieved major advancement from the year 1974 onwards as Rudolph Jaenisch produced the very first transgenic mammal by assimilating DNA from the virus SV40 into the DNA of mice. This development further advanced in leaps and bounds giving rise to the first cloned mammal from an adult cell named Dolly the sheep.
Other than using animal testing for bio-medical research the utilization of animals for testing the toxicology tolerance initiated from the twentieth century onwards. The laws governing the marketing of cosmetics and chemicals used in other house hold items were little relaxed till the nineteenth century but after the disaster of Elixir Sulfanilamide in the year 1937, the US government became stringent and the laws that regulated the marketing and selling of these items needed a safety assurance test on animals before they were marketed for human use.
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