Medicines, household products, food, and basically everything involved in the life of an average person has to under go a form of testing before it is
             legal to be placed on a shelf and if available to the public. The same tests are performed on every medical procedure that is introduced to
             surgeons. Since the only way to directly mimic the human body is to use it
             itself, scientists were forced to find the closest and best alternative.
             That is where animals were introduced to the medical profession.
             Experimentation on animals date back to as early as 500 BC, making this form
             of medical validation one of the oldest known to humans. It is not only one
             of the oldest but one of the most informative. Scientists use animals in
             medical research to study how the body works and how to diagnose, cure, and
             prevent disease. Researchers also use animals for tests to try to protect
             the public from dangerous chemicals, (Day, 13) such as those included in
             detergents, bleach, and other household products. When live animals are
             used in experimentation, this practice is called vivisection. Animals are
             used in many instances because their bodies often react in a similar way to
             Although animals have been used in medical research for numerous years it
             was not until the early 1920's that it became more prominent. It was at
             this point that the introduction of using live, un-anesthetized, animals to
             study toxic effects on an increasing array of drugs, pesticides and food
             additives was introduced. After this great advance in medical research the
             results of using animals grew with leaps and bounds. In 1970 this process
             peaked with the use of millions of animals. Since then, according to the
             USDA's Animals Welfare Enforcement, 1,267,828 animals were used for medical
             purposes in 1998, which is more than a 50 percent decrease since 1970.
             Although this is a drastic drop in ...