ABSTRACT
Animal research has played a vital role in virtually every major medical advance of the last century-for both human and animal health. The use of animals in research began in antiquity, and gathered force in the eighteenth century, when philosophers and scientists shifted from studying an ideal, often spiritual world to studying the natural world. Thanks in part to diagnostic tests and therapies based on animal research, cancer deaths have been on a continuous decline in the United States since the 1990s. Decades of research with mouse models helped establish that Cystic fibrosis is caused by defects in a protein needed to clear fluid from the lungs. Animal research has contributed to dozens of drugs that help prevent heart attack and stroke through various means, such as controlling blood clots, blood pressure, and diabetes. In the United States, the use of animals in research is regulated by the Animal Welfare Act and Public Health Service policy.
