Question: Is some animal testing required by law?

Joanna Cruden answered on 14 Jun 2012:

Yes in fact quite a lot of animal testing is required by law; it is required by regulatory bodies like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration in America).

Regulatory bodies in different countries will have different demands for animal research, for example even if you have carried out your safety testing with animals and it is to an acceptable for some countries you may have to do further testing for other countries depending on their legal requirements.

If there is a compound which has not shown any adverse side you may be expected by some regulatory bodies to give the animal a higher volume of drug to ensure there are side effects so they know what side effects may be seen in humans effects and to ensure the safest dose range for both men and women (usually mgs per kilo) is selected (this is known as Toxicology testing). This testing is usually carried out when the first human tests using healthy human volunteers begin (known as clinical trials)

For vaccines most countries still expect them to be batch tested on animals before they are used on people. Almost all drugs have to be tested on two different species of animals, usually a rodent and a non rodent species; this is requested by most regulatory bodies.
The fewest animals and most appropriate species are selected and although it has been requested by the regulatory bodies the animals are still highly protected and cared to ensure they have the minimum pain, distress or lasting harm.