Animal experimentation has been practiced for centuries to further
            
             our knowledge of the workings of the human body and to find cures for diseases
            
             (Chang 1998, para 1) . There is much contention in regard to animal testing
            
             despite its longtime practice in the United States and beyond, however, and
            
             both sides have compelling arguments to support their beliefs. Is animal testing
            
             truly a valuable tool in advancing medical research? Or is animal experimentation
            
             inhumane and archaic as animal rights activist insist? What ethical basis do
            
             either side have for their opinions?
            
             Animal experimentation became widespread in the late 1800's.
            
             Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies through his experiments with
            
             animals (Chang 1998, p.5). Pasteur also isolated the microbe that causes
            
             anthrax and developed a vaccine against the deadly disease (Botting and
            
             Morrison 1997, para. 4). Joseph Lister, a British surgeon who pioneered the
            
             sterilization of instruments and dressings used to treat wounds was influenced
            
             greatly by Pasteur (para 5) In 1875, Queen Victoria asked Lister to address the
            
             Royal Commission's inquiry into vivisection (the dissection of live animals)
            
             because of her disapproval of it. Though Lister, a Quaker with high moral
            
             standards, had publicly decried many cruelties of the Victorian era, he was
            
             unable to condemn vivisection. His testimony to the Royal Commission stated
            
             that animal research had greatly helped him in his studies of medicine and
            
             restricting research would only prevent discoveries that would help humankind
            
             (paras. 5, 6).
            
             So , animal experimentation through the years has clearly played an
            
             important role in furthering medical science. Through animal experimentation,
            
             researchers have discovered causes of and vaccines for many diseases, including
            
             diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, measles,
            
             mumps, and rubella (B...