Animal Testing Video Post

This is another reason for animal testing. Bart Weetjens has trained rats to detect land minds and Tuberculosis. His training is not invasive and does not harm the animals. He says that at least 6,000 people have died each year from land mind incidents. Rats are also less of a cost investment. You can train rats at 1/5 the cost that you can train dogs.  His results from rats detecting TB are much more outstanding.  Testing for TB patients through the microscope is only 40%-60% accurate. Rats start out at a 60% accurate detection rate. Did you know that one TB positive patient that goes undiagnosed can infect at least 15 more people? With 1.9 million people dying worldwide each year, this new testing is found to be not only cost effective but also faster. Microscopic testing can only be done at about 40 slides per working day, while rats can detect 7 cases (slides) per minute.  I think Bart is on his way to helping people worldwide. PLease use the link to discover what I did.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bart_weetjens_how_i_taught_rats_to_sniff_out_land_mines.html