Hi, please could I get information against vivisection (animal
testing) for medical research? I mean, other ways such as computer
calculations, cell cultures etc. and a little bit about them and why
they are better and more effective than animal testing. I don't need
long pieces of info and loads of links etc. Just some reliable
sourceable short bits of info on the side of alternaives to animal
testing.
Also, you come across any responses to popular arguments for animal
testing, they would be helpful too.
Thanks, Ed
Any need for clarification please ask.

Here is a link with some info: http://www.allforanimals.com/alternatives1.htm
There is also a huge global clearing house with far more details on
various methods as well as up and coming methods which scientists are
currently working to invent: http://altweb.jhsph.edu/ The FAQ there is
a good overview. If you'd like more clarification, please ask!

Eytex
Produced by the National Testing Corp. in Palm Springs, California,
Eytex is an in-vitro (test-tube) procedure that measures eye irritancy
via a protein alteration system. A vegetable protein from the jack
bean mimics the reaction of the cornea to an alien substance. This
alternative is used by Avon instead of the cruel Draize eye irritancy
test.

Skintex
An in-vitro method to assess skin irritancy that uses pumpkin rind to
mimic the reaction of a foreign substance on human skin (both Eytex
and Skintex can measure 5,000 different materials).

EpiPack
Produced by Clonetics in San Diego, California, the EpiPack uses
cloned human tissue to test potentially harmful substances.

Neutral Red Bioassay
Developed at Rockefeller University and promoted by Clonetics, the
Neutral Red Bioassay is cultured human cells that are used to compute
the absorption of a water-soluble dye to measure relative toxicity.

Testskin
Produced by Organogenesis in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Testskin uses
human skin grown in a sterile plastic bag and can be used for
measuring irritancy, etc. (this method is used by Avon, Amway, and
Estee Lauder).

TOPKAT
Produced by Health Design, Inc. in Rochester, New York, TOPKAT is a
computer software program that measures toxicity, mutagenicity,
carcinogenicity, and teratonogenicity (this method is used by the U.S.
Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug
Administration).

Ames Test
Tests for carcinogenicity by mixing a test culture with Salmonella
typhimurium and adding activating enzymes. It was able to detect 156
out of 174 (90%) animal carcinogens and 90 out of 100 (88%)
non-carcinogenes.

Agarose Diffusion Method
Tests for toxicity of plastic and synthetic devices used in medical
devices such as heart valves, artificial joints, and intravenous
lines. Human cells and the test material are placed in a flask and are
separated by a thin-layer of agarose (a derivative of seaweed agar).
If the material tested is an irritant, an area of killed cells appears
around the substance.