Research Paper

Summary of Research

Using animals for cancer research has led to great medical successes that have saved many lives. Before I was able to understand how animals would be able to help in experimental cancer treatments, I first had to better understand cancer. Cancer is the constant division and growth of cells, which eventually lead to cell mutations. Progress has been made in the way of treatment over the past ten years thanks to animal research. A large misconception is that house hold pets are the organisms being used for harmful experiments when, in reality, mice or smaller creatures are the models for experimentation. The majority of animal use in cancer studies was the injection of cancer cells into lab rats. Although the process sounds harsh, their are strict guidelines that are set in order to ensure the well being of the animals. For a researcher to be allowed to test a cancer treatment on an animal they must first be able to show that the experimental treatment is successful in a single cancer cell and must predict an harmful side effects that the test subject may endure. Standards of care must be met, which includes the fact that animals are not allowed for experimentation until every other form of testing has been completed. The animals are taken care of as well as possible and are provided around the clock veterinary care. Even humane "end-points" are set in place if experimentation begins to harm the animal. This keeps the animal from dealing with any unneccessary suffering. The goal of researchers is to better understand the disease, not cause harm. With the help of animal research, cures to diseases, including cancer, are being found.

 Junior Reflection Letters

Overall, I found my topic to be somewhat boring and had considered changing it in the beginning of the project. As I continued to search for animal use in cancer research many sources and websites continued to pop up. There were vast amounts of information to be looked into and so many people that were both for, and against the use of animals in science. However, when it came time for my interview here was no one willing to discuss h subject further with me. I mailed multiple doctors, professors, colleges, and hospitals but no one would respond to my interview. Finally, an enthusiastic doctor from a university emailed me back and seemed excited at the prospect of sharing his work with me. My interview still has not taken place but should be completed sometime today. My graduation project, so far, has gone extremely smoothly: sources ar everywhere which makes writing note cards simple, there is plenty of information both for and against my stand, and, now that I have someone willing to answer my questions, my interview went well. I do not believe I will experience any problems along the way of this project and there will be plenty of information for me to us in my paper.

All 150 note cards have now been completed and may of them are about specific types of cancers. My topic question is should animals be used for cancer research and I'm not entirely sure how helpful the notes I have taken thus far will be. However, it should provide a good foundation for the research. I do believe that animals should be used in cancer research because, due to the past use of small animal research, cancer treatments have increased drastically. Plus, there are very few animals actually used for research and those that are must abide by very strict guidelines.

So far, my graduation project has been going great. By this time my second draft is completed including the in-text diagram. The revisions in my paper mainly consisted of changing the paper so that there were no examples of stacked research. I also had to elaborate on the research I used. ext year, for my product, I'm thinking that I would possibly volunteer at an animal shelter ad create a scrapbook-like binder. Another possible idea was trying to get in touch with the doctor who provided my interview response and possibly shadowing him.