Question: why don't researchers test products on humans not animals?

Caspar Addyman answered on 23 Mar 2011:

All medicines are tested on humans. Before a new drug can be put on the market it has to go through lots of rounds of testing to be sure that not only is it safe but that it actually works.

The first few rounds will be performed in testtubes and petri-dishes looking at how the drug effects simple cells and tissue cultures. Later rounds of testing are performed in specially bred laboratory animals (most usually mice that have or are missing particular genes.)
Then the drugs are tested on healthy people to see if they have any side effects and also on unhealthy people to see if they can cure the diseases they are supposed to cure. There are obviously lots of government laws and regulations about doing this properly. (For example, there are lots of laws to make sure that lab animals are treated humanely)

This is a very long and very expensive process which is why pharmaceutical companies have to be so large and charge so much for their products. But this huge cost and the huge potential profits to be made also encourage companies to be less ethical than we would like. There are quite a few of examples of pharmeutical companies hiding negative results or exaggerating positive ones. This is not good for you and I. I think there should be more pressure on these companies to be more open about what they are doing.