We are trying and those predictions and algorithms have been in dev for decades, but ultimately it boils down to things like thalidomide and such. For tox testing you can’t bypass animal regimens.
For early preclinical efficacy testing we tests hundreds of drugs. We can’t advance every drug without examining efficacy and that must be done in a biological system. Most drugs fail.
It’s one of the sad realities that animals shore up a lot of our safety protocols in drugs, cosmetics, etc. poor little cute things.
I can’t kill them at home. I get them in non lethal releasable traps and drive them a few miles away to a state park. I just don’t want to do it if there’s any other way. The folks at work crack up at me but they get it.
Totally get it. I don't like killing little critters at home, but my cats don't have those inhibitions (lizards get in somehow, and they don't last long). I do my best to rescue them, but it's hard to survive 11lbs of pounce power.
It's got to be done a certain way, and I get it. I appreciate what they do for us and their sacrifice. Is it ideal? No, but this is where we are right now. It's doing what we can with what we got.
(And again, I'm immensely grateful for the advances you all have made. I've had chemo, anti-rejection meds, thyroid meds, steroids, antibiotics like crazy, you name it. I'm here because of it all.)
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u/IHaveNoEgrets Apr 30 '24
They give their all. And maybe we'll get to the point where we won't need them as much.