Animal testing, also known as
animal experimentation,
animal research, and
in vivoIn vivo refers to experimentation using a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or an in vitro controlled environment. Animal testing and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research...
testing, is the use of non-human animals in
experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
s. It is estimated that 50 to 100 million
vertebrateVertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with backbones or spinal columns. About 58,000 species of vertebrates have been described. Vertebrata is the largest subphylum of chordates, and contains many familiar groups of large land animals. Vertebrates comprise cyclostomes, bony...
animals worldwide — from zebrafish to non-human primates — are used annually. Although much larger numbers of
invertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a vertebral column. The group includes 95% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata ....
s are used and the use of flies and worms as
model organismA model organism is a species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms...
s is very important, experiments on invertebrates are largely unregulated and not included in statistics. Most animals are euthanized after being used in an experiment. Sources of laboratory animals vary between countries and species; while most animals are purpose-bred, others may be caught in the wild or supplied by dealers who obtain them from auctions and
poundsAn animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats.The animal is kept at the shelter until it is either reclaimed by an owner, adopted by a new owner, or placed with another organization...
.
The research is conducted inside universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry. It includes pure research such as
geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
,
developmental biologyDevelopmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis," which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.Developmental biology is that...
, behavioural studies, as well as applied research such as
biomedical researchBiomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid and support the body of knowledge in the field of medicine...
,
xenotransplantationXenotransplantation is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another, such as from pigs to humans . Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants...
, drug testing and
toxicology testsToxicology testing, also known as safety testing, or toxicity testing, is conducted by pharmaceutical companies testing drugs, or by contract animal testing facilities such as Huntingdon Life Sciences and Inveresk Research International on behalf of a wide variety of customers, including the...
, including
cosmetics testingTesting cosmetics on animals is a form of animal testing, intended to ensure the safety and hypoallergenic properties of the products for use by humans...
. Animals are also used for education, breeding, and defense research.
Supporters of the practice, such as the British
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
, argue that virtually every medical achievement in the 20th century relied on the use of animals in some way, with the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences arguing that even sophisticated computers are unable to model interactions between molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, and the environment, making animal research necessary in many areas. Some scientists and
animal rightsAnimal rights, also referred to as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of humans...
organizations, such as
PETAPeta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Hall, a well known Rhodesian-Canadian potter...
and BUAV, question the legitimacy of it, arguing that it is cruel, poor scientific practice, poorly regulated, that medical progress is being held back by misleading animal models, that some of the tests are outdated, that it cannot reliably predict effects in humans, that the costs outweigh the benefits, or that animals have an intrinsic right not to be used for experimentation. The practice of animal testing is regulated to various extents in different countries.
Definitions
The terms animal testing,
animal experimentation, animal research, in vivo
testing, and vivisectionFrom Latin vivus + sectio , Vivisection is surgery conducted upon a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to directly view living internal structure for purposes other than the health of the subject....
have similar denotationThis word has distinct meanings in other fields: see denotation . For the opposite of Denotation see Connotation.*In logic, linguistics and semiotics, the denotation of a word or phrase is a part of its meaning; however, the part referred to varies by context:** In grammar and literary theory, the...
s but different connotationConnotationsubjective cultural and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of any specific word or phrase in alanguage, i.e. emotional association with a word.-Usage:...
s. Literally, "vivisection" means the "cutting up" of a living animal, and historically referred only to experiments that involved the dissectionDissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components...
of live animals. The term is now used to refer pejoratively to any experiment using living animals; for example, the Encyclopaedia Britannica defines "vivisection" as: "Operation on a living animal for experimental rather than healing purposes; more broadly, all experimentation on live animals." The word has a negative connotation, implying torture, suffering, and death. The word "vivisection" is preferred by those opposed to this research, whereas scientists typically use the term "animal experimentation."
History
The earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the
GreeksAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
in the second and fourth centuries BCE.
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
(Αριστοτέλης) (384-322 BCE) and
ErasistratusErasistratus was a Greek anatomist and royal physician under Seleucus I Nicator of Syria. Along with fellow physician Herophilus, he founded a school of anatomy in Alexandria, where they carried out anatomical research...
(304-258 BCE) were among the first to perform experiments on living animals.
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
, a physician in second-century
RomeAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, dissected pigs and goats, and is known as the "father of
vivisectionFrom Latin vivus + sectio , Vivisection is surgery conducted upon a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to directly view living internal structure for purposes other than the health of the subject....
."
Animals have been used throughout the history of scientific research. In the 1880s,
Louis PasteurLouis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of disease. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies. His experiments supported the germ...
convincingly demonstrated the
germ theoryThe germ theory of disease, also called the pathogenic theory of medicine, is a theory that proposes that microorganisms are the cause of many diseases...
of medicine by inducing
anthraxAnthrax is an acute disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. It affects both humans and animals. Most forms of the disease are highly lethal...
in sheep. In the 1890s,
Ivan PavlovIvan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian, and later Soviet, physiologist, psychologist, and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for research pertaining to the digestive system...
famously used dogs to describe
classical conditioningClassical conditioning is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. The typical procedure for inducing classical conditioning involves presentations of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance...
.
InsulinInsulin is a hormone that has extensive effects on metabolism and other body functions, such as vascular compliance. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stopping use of fat as an energy...
was first isolated from dogs in 1922, and revolutionized the treatment of diabetes. On November 3, 1957, a
Russian dogDuring the 1950s and 1960s the USSR used a number of dogs for sub-orbital and orbital space flights to determine whether human spaceflight was feasible. In the 1950s and 60s, the Soviet Union launched missions with passenger slots for at least 57 dogs. The actual number of dogs in space is smaller,...
,
LaikaLaika was a Soviet space dog who became the first animal to orbit the Earth and the first orbital death. Little was known about the impact of space flight on living things at the time Laika's mission was launched...
, became the first of many
animals to orbit the earthAnimals in space originally served to test the survivability of spaceflight before manned space missions were attempted. Later, animals were flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space flight might have on them...
. In the 1970s,
antibioticIn common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria...
treatments and
vaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains a small amount of an agent that resembles a microorganism...
s for
leprosyLeprosy , or Hansen's disease , is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external symptom...
were developed using
armadilloArmadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths...
s, then given to humans. The ability of humans to change the
geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
of animals took a large step forwards in 1974 when
Rudolf JaenischRudolf Jaenisch is a German pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch has focused on creating transgenic mice to study cancer and neurological diseases....
was able to produce the first
transgenic mammalA genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
, by integrating DNA from the
SV40SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans...
virus into the
genomeIn modern molecular biology the genome refers to all of its hereditary information encoded in DNA .The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA. The term was adapted in 1920 by Hans Winkler, Professor of Botany at the University of Hamburg, Germany...
of mice. This genetic research progressed rapidly and, in 1996,
Dolly the sheepDolly was a female domestic sheep remarkable in being the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born on 5 July 1996 and she...
was born, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.
ToxicologyToxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. It is the study of symptoms, mechanisms, treatments and detection of poisoning, especially the poisoning of people.-History:...
testing became important in the 20th century. In the 19th century, laws regulating drugs were more relaxed. For example, in the U.S., the government could only ban a drug after a company had been prosecuted for selling products that harmed customers. However, in response to
a tragedy in 1937The elixir sulfanilamide disaster was a mass poisoning in the United States in 1937. It caused the deaths of more than 100 people. The public outcry caused by this incident and other similar disasters led to the passing of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.- History :Aside from the...
where a drug labeled “Elixir of Sulfanilamide” killed more than 100 people, the U.S. congress passed laws that required safety testing of drugs on animals before they could be marketed. Other countries enacted similar legislation. In the 1960s, in reaction to the
ThalidomideThalidomide is a sedative-hypnotic and multiple myeloma medication. The drug is a potent teratogen in rabbits and primates including humans: severe birth defects may result if the drug is taken during pregnancy....
tragedy, further laws were passed requiring safety testing on pregnant animals before a drug can be sold.
The controversy surrounding animal testing dates back to the 17th century. In 1655, the advocate of
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
ic physiology
Edmund O'MearaEdmund O'Meara Irish physiologist and one of the last prominent champions of the medical ideas of Galen. Son of Dermod O'Meara who was a physician, poet and author...
said that "the miserable torture of vivisection places the body in an unnatural state." O'Meara and others argued that animal physiology could be affected by pain during vivisection, rendering results unreliable. There were also objections on an ethical basis, contending that the benefit to humans did not justify the harm to animals. Early objections to animal testing also came from another angle — many people believed that animals were inferior to humans and so different that results from animals could not be applied to humans.
On the other side of the debate, those in favor of animal testing held that experiments on animals were necessary to advance medical and biological knowledge.
Claude BernardClaude Bernard was a French physiologist. Historian of science I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science"...
, known as the "prince of vivisectors" and the father of physiology — whose wife, Marie Françoise Martin, founded the first anti-vivisection society in France in 1883 — famously wrote in 1865 that "the science of life is a superb and dazzlingly lighted hall which may be reached only by passing through a long and ghastly kitchen". Arguing that "experiments on animals ... are entirely conclusive for the toxicology and hygiene of man...the effects of these substances are the same on man as on animals, save for differences in degree," Bernard established animal experimentation as part of the standard
scientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
. In 1896, the physiologist and physician Dr. Walter B. Cannon said “The antivivisectionists are the second of the two types Theodore Roosevelt described when he said, ‘Common sense without conscience may lead to crime, but conscience without common sense may lead to folly, which is the handmaiden of crime.’ ” These divisions between pro- and anti- animal testing groups first came to public attention during the
brown dog affairThe Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Edwardian England from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration of University of London medical lectures by Swedish women activists, pitched battles between medical students and the police, police protection for...
in the early 1900s, when hundreds of medical students clashed with anti-vivisectionists and police over a memorial to a vivisected dog.
In 1822, the first
animal protection lawThe Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the long title "An Act to prevent the cruel and improper Treatment of Cattle"; it is sometimes known as Martin's Act. It was one of the first pieces of animal rights legislation...
was enacted in the British parliament, followed by the
Cruelty to Animals Act (1876)The Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which set limits on the practice of, and instituted a licensing system for animal experimentation, amending the Cruelty to Animals Act 1849...
, the first law specifically aimed at regulating animal testing. The legislation was promoted by
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
, who wrote to
Ray LankesterSir E. Ray Lankester KCB, FRS was a British zoologist, born in London.An invertebrate zoologist and evolutionary biologist, he held chairs at University College London and Oxford University. He was the third Director of the Natural History Museum, and was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal...
in March 1871: "You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology; but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a subject which makes me sick with horror, so I will not say another word about it, else I shall not sleep to-night." Opposition to the use of animals in medical research first arose in the United States during the 1860s, when
Henry BerghHenry Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in April, 1866, three days after the first effective legislation against animal cruelty in the United States was passed into law by the New York State Legislature...
founded the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsThe American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing cruelty towards animals...
(ASPCA), with America's first specifically anti-vivisection organization being the American AntiVivisection Society (AAVS), founded in 1883. Antivivisectionists of the era generally believed the spread of mercy was the great cause of civilization, and vivisection was cruel. However, in the USA the antivivisectionists' efforts were defeated in every legislature, overwhelmed by the superior organization and influence of the medical community. Overall, this movement had little legislative success until the passing of the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, in 1966.
Care and use of animals
Regulations
The regulations that apply to animals in laboratories vary across species. In the U.S., under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
(the Guide), published by the National Academy of Sciences, any procedure can be performed on an animal if it can be successfully argued that it is scientifically justified. In general, researchers are required to consult with the institution's veterinarian and its
Institutional Animal Care and Use CommitteeInstitutional Animal Care and Use Committees are of central importance to the application of laws to animal research in the United States. Most research involving laboratory animals is funded by the United States National Institutes of Health or other federal agencies...
(IACUC), which every research facility is obliged to maintain. The IACUC must ensure that alternatives, including non-animal alternatives, have been considered, that the experiments are not unnecessarily duplicative, and that pain relief is given unless it would interfere with the study. Larry Carbone, a laboratory animal veterinarian, writes that, in his experience, IACUCs take their work very seriously regardless of the species involved, though the use of non-human primates always raises what he calls a "red flag of special concern." However, a study published in Science magazine on July 27, 2001 confirmed the low reliability of IACUC reviews of animal experiments. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the three-year study found that animal use committees that do not know the specifics of the university and personnel do not make the same approval decisions as those made by animal use committees that do know the university and personnel. Specifically, blinded committees more often ask for more information rather than approving studies.
The IACUCs regulate all vertebrates in testing at institutions receiving federal funds in the USA. Although the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act do not include purpose-bred rodents and birds, these species are equally regulated under Public Health Service policies that govern the IACUCs. Animal Welfare Act regulations are enforced by the USDA, whereas Public Health Service regulations are enforced by OLAW and in many cases by AAALAC.
Numbers
Accurate global figures for animal testing are difficult to obtain. The
British Union for the Abolition of VivisectionThe British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection group based in London, UK which campaigns for the complete abolition of all animal experiments. BUAV engages in education, research, lobbying, investigations, including undercover work in laboratories, and legal...
(BUAV) estimates that 100 million vertebrates are experimented on around the world every year, 10–11 million of them in the European Union. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics reports that global annual estimates range from 50 to 100 million animals.
None of the figures, including those given in this article, include invertebrates, such as shrimp and fruit flies. Animals bred for research then killed as surplus, animals used for breeding purposes, and animals not yet weaned (which most laboratories do not count) are also not included in the figures.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the total number of animals used in that country in 2005 was almost 1.2 million, but this does not include rats and mice, which make up about 90% of research animals. In 1995, researchers at Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy estimated that 14-21 million animals were used in American laboratories in 1992, a reduction from a high of 50 million used in 1970. In 1986, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment reported that estimates of the animals used in the U.S. range from 10 million to upwards of 100 million each year, and that their own best estimate was at least 17 million to 22 million.
In the UK, Home Office figures show that nearly three million procedures were carried out in 2004 on just under the same number of animals. It is the third consecutive annual rise and the highest figure since 1992. Most animals are used in only one procedure: animals either die because of the experiment or are euthanized afterwards. A "procedure" refers to an experiment that might last minutes, several months, or years.
Species
Although many more invertebrates than vertebrates are used, these experiments are largely unregulated by law. The most used invertebrate species are
Drosophila melanogasterDrosophila melanogaster is a species of Diptera, or the order of flies, in the family Drosophilidae. The species is commonly known as the common fruit fly or vinegar fly. Starting from Charles W...
, a fruit fly, and Caenorhabditis elegansCaenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
, a nematodeThe "roundworms" or "nematodes" are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 80,000 have been described, of which over 15,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of...
worm. In the case of C. elegans
, the worm's body is completely transparent and the precise lineage of all the organism's cells is known, while studies in the fly D. melanogaster can use an amazing array of genetic tools. These animals offer great advantages over vertebrates, including their short life cycle and the ease with which large numbers may be studied, with thousands of flies or nematodes fitting into a single room. However, the lack of an adaptive
immune systemAn immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
and their simple organs prevent worms from being used in medical research such as vaccine development. Similarly, flies are not widely used in applied medical research, as their
immune systemAn immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
differs greatly from that of humans, and diseases in insects can be very different from diseases in more complex animals.
-
- Rodents, fish, and rabbits
In the U.S., the numbers of rats and mice used is estimated at 20 million a year. Other rodents commonly used are guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils. Mice are the most commonly used vertebrate species because of their size, low cost, ease of handling, and fast reproduction rate. Mice are widely considered to be the best model of
inherited human diseaseA genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. While some diseases, such as cancer, are due in part to a genetic disorders, they can also be caused by environmental factors. Most disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions...
and share 99% of their
geneA gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cells and pass genetic traits to offspring...
s with humans. With the advent of
genetic engineeringGenetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct manipulation of an organism's genes. Genetic engineering is different from traditional breeding, where the organism's genes are manipulated indirectly...
technology, genetically modified mice can be generated to order and can provide models for a range of human diseases. Rats are also widely used for physiology, toxicology and cancer research, but genetic manipulation is much harder in rats than in mice, which limits the use of these rodents in basic science.
Nearly 200,000 fish and 20,000 amphibians were used in the UK in 2004. The main species used is the zebrafish,
Danio rerioThe zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family . It is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio, and is an important vertebrate model organism in scientific research.- Taxonomy :The zebrafish is a derived member of the genus...
, which are translucent during their embryonic stage, and the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Over 20,000 rabbits were used for animal testing in the UK in 2004. Albino rabbits are used in eye irritancy tests because rabbits have less tear flow than other animals, and the lack of eye pigment in albinos make the effects easier to visualize. Rabbits are also frequently used for the production of polyclonal antibodies.
Cats are most commonly used in neurological research. Over 25,500 cats were used in the U.S. in 2000, around half of whom were used in experiments which, according to the
American Anti-Vivisection SocietyThe American Anti-Vivisection Society is an organization created with the goal of eliminating a number of different procedures done by medical and cosmetic groups in relation to animal cruelty in the United States. It seeks to help the betterment of animal life and human-animal interaction through...
, had the potential to cause "pain and/or distress".
Dogs are widely used in biomedical research, testing, and education — particularly beagles, because they are gentle and easy to handle. They are commonly used as models for human diseases in cardiology, endocrinology, and bone and joint studies, research that tends to be highly invasive, according to the
Humane Society of the United StatesThe Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2007, it had 10.6 million members, and a budget of US$120 million....
. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Report for 2005 shows that 66,000 dogs were used in USDA-registered facilities in that year. In the U.S., some of the dogs are purpose-bred, while most are supplied by so-called Class B dealers licensed by the USDA to buy animals from auctions, shelters, newspaper ads, and who are sometimes accused of stealing pets.
Non-human primates (NHPs) are used in toxicology tests, studies of AIDS and hepatitis, studies of
neurologyNeurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
, behavior and cognition, reproduction,
geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
, and
xenotransplantationXenotransplantation is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another, such as from pigs to humans . Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants...
. They are caught in the wild or purpose-bred. In the U.S. and China, most primates are domestically purpose-bred, whereas in Europe the majority are imported purpose-bred. Rhesus monkeys, cynomolgus monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and owl monkeys are imported; around 12,000 to 15,000 monkeys are imported into the U.S. annually. In total, around 70,000 NHPs are used each year in the United States and European Union. Most of the NHPs used are
macaqueThe macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. Aside from humans , the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from northern Africa to Japan...
s; but
marmosetMarmosets are the 25 New World monkey species of the genera Callithrix, Cebuella, Callibella, and Mico. All four genera are part of the biological family Callitrichidae. The term marmoset is also used in reference to the Goeldi's Monkey, Callimico goeldii, which is closely related.Most marmosets...
s,
spider monkeySpider monkeys of the genus Ateles are New World monkeys in the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil...
s, and
squirrel monkeyThe squirrel monkeys are the New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae.Squirrel monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have para- or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S...
s are also used, and
baboonBaboons are African and Asian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominid members of the primate order; only the Mandrill and the Drill are larger...
s and
chimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s are used in the U.S; in 2006 there were 1133 chimpanzees in U.S. primate centers. The first transgenic primate was produced in 2001, with the development of a method that could introduce new genes into a
rhesus macaqueThe Rhesus Macaque , often called the Rhesus Monkey, is one of the best known species of Old World monkeys.Adult males measure approximately 53 centimeters on average and weigh an average of 7.7 kilograms. Females are smaller, averaging 47 centimeters in length and 5.3 kilograms in weight...
. This transgenic technology is now being applied in the search for a treatment for the
genetic disorderA genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. While some diseases, such as cancer, are due in part to a genetic disorders, they can also be caused by environmental factors. Most disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions...
Huntington's diseaseHuntington's disease, chorea, or disorder , is an incurable neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and some cognitive functions, typically becoming noticeable in middle age. It is the most common genetic cause of abnormal involuntary writhing movements called chorea...
. Notable studies on non-human primates have been part of the polio vaccine development, and development of
Deep Brain StimulationDeep brain stimulation is a surgical treatment involving the implantation of a medical device called a brain pacemaker, which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain...
, and their current heaviest non-toxicological use occurs in the monkey AIDS model,
SIVSimian immunodeficiency viruses are retroviruses that are found in over 40 African primates.Viruses from two of these primate species, SIVsmm in Sooty Mangabeys and SIVcpz in chimpanzees, are believed to have crossed the species barrier into humans, resulting in HIV-2 and HIV-1, respectively...
. In 2008 a proposal to ban all primates experiments in the EU has sparked a vigorous debate.
Sources
Animals used by laboratories are largely supplied by specialist dealers. Sources differ for vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Most laboratories breed and raise flies and worms themselves, using strains and mutants supplied from a few main stock centers. For vertebrates, sources include breeders who supply purpose-bred animals; businesses that trade in wild animals; and dealers who supply animals sourced from pounds, auctions, and newspaper ads.
Animal shelterAn animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats.The animal is kept at the shelter until it is either reclaimed by an owner, adopted by a new owner, or placed with another organization...
s also supply the laboratories directly. Large centers also exist to distribute strains of genetically-modified animals; the
National Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. It consists of 27 separate institutes and centers which includes the Office...
Knockout Mouse Project, for example, aims to provide
knockout miceA knockout mouse is a genetically engineered mouse in which one or more genes have been turned off through a gene knockout. Knockout mice are important animal models for studying the role of genes which have been sequenced, but have unknown functions...
for every gene in the mouse genome.
In the U.S., Class A breeders are licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell animals for research purposes, while Class B dealers are licensed to buy animals from "random sources" such as auctions, pound seizure, and newspaper ads. Some Class B dealers have been accused of kidnapping pets and illegally trapping strays, a practice known as bunching. It was in part out of public concern over the sale of pets to research facilities that the 1966 Laboratory Animal Welfare Act was ushered in — the Senate Committee on Commerce reported in 1966 that stolen pets had been retrieved from Veterans Administration facilities, the Mayo Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Harvard and Yale Medical Schools. The USDA recovered at least a dozen stolen pets during a raid on a Class B dealer in Arkansas in 2003.
Four states in the U.S. —
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
,
UtahUtah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making...
,
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, and
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
— require their shelters to provide animals to research facilities. Fourteen states explicitly prohibit the practice, while the remainder either allow it or have no relevant legislation.
In the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
, animal sources are governed by Council Directive 86/609/EEC, which requires lab animals to be specially bred, unless the animal has been lawfully imported and is not a wild animal or a stray. The latter requirement may also be exempted by special arrangement. In the UK, most animals used in experiments are bred for the purpose under the 1988 Animal Protection Act, but wild-caught primates may be used if exceptional and specific justification can be established. The United States also allows the use of wild-caught primates; between 1995 and 1999, 1,580 wild baboons were imported into the U.S. Over half the primates imported between 1995 and 2000 were handled by
Charles River Laboratories, Inc.Charles River Laboratories, Inc. is an American corporation specializing in a broad spectrum of pre-clinical and clinical laboratory services for the pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology industries. It is the world's largest supplier of animals for laboratory experimentation, and has...
, or by
CovanceCovance Inc. , formerly Corning Incorporated, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is a contract research organization providing drug development and animal testing services...
, which is the single largest
importer of primatesThe international trade in primates sees 32,000 wild non-human primates trapped and sold on the international market every year. They are sold mostly for use in animal testing, but also for food, for exhibition in zoos and circuses, and for private use as companion animals.-Countries involved:The...
into the U.S.
Pain and suffering
The extent to which animal testing causes
painPhysical Pain is the unpleasant feeling common to a headache and a stubbed toe. It typically consists of negative affect and aversion, and has location, duration, intensity and a distinctive quality...
and
sufferingSuffering, or pain, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical, or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of...
, and the capacity of animals to experience and comprehend them, is the subject of much debate.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2006 about 670,000 animals (not including rats, mice, birds, or invertebrates) were used in procedures that did not include more than momentary pain or distress. About 420,000 were used in procedures in which pain or distress was relieved by anesthesia, while 84,000 were used in studies that would cause pain or distress that would not be relieved.
In the UK, research projects are classified as mild, moderate, and substantial in terms of the suffering the researchers conducting the study say they may cause; a fourth category of "unclassified" means the animal was
anesthetizedAnesthesia, or anaesthesia , has traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away. This allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience...
and killed without recovering
consciousnessConsciousness is subjective experience or awareness or wakefulness or the executive control system of the mind. It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena...
, according to the researchers. In December 2001, 39 percent (1,296) of project licenses in force were classified as mild, 55 percent (1,811) as moderate, two percent (63) as substantial, and 4 percent (139) as unclassified. There have, however, been suggestions of systemic underestimation of procedure severity.
The idea that animals might not feel pain as human beings feel it traces back to the 17th-century French philosopher,
René DescartesRené Descartes , , also known as Renatus Cartesius , was a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic...
, who argued that animals do not experience pain and suffering because they lack
consciousnessConsciousness is subjective experience or awareness or wakefulness or the executive control system of the mind. It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena...
.
Bernard RollinBernard E. Rollin is a philosopher widely recognized for his approach to animal rights, as well as his influence in politics. At Colorado State University, he holds the position of University Distinguished Professor. -Career:...
of
Colorado State UniversityColorado State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Fort Collins, Colorado in the United States. Colorado State University is the state's land grant university and the flagship campus university of the Colorado State University System. The enrollment is approximately...
, the principal author of two U.S. federal laws regulating pain relief for animals, writes that researchers remained unsure into the 1980s as to whether animals experience pain, and that veterinarians trained in the U.S. before 1989 were simply taught to ignore animal pain. In his interactions with scientists and other veterinarians, he was regularly asked to "prove" that animals are conscious, and to provide "scientifically acceptable" grounds for claiming that they feel pain. Carbone writes that the view that animals feel pain differently is now a minority view. Academic reviews of the topic are more equivocal, noting that although the argument that animals have at least simple conscious thoughts and feelings has strong support, some critics continue to question how reliably animal mental states can be determined. The ability of invertebrate species of animals, such as insects, to feel pain and suffering is also unclear.
The defining text on animal welfare regulation, "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" defines the parameters that govern animal testing in the USA. It states "The ability to experience and respond to pain is widespread in the animal kingdom...Pain is a stressor and, if not relieved, can lead to unacceptable levels of stress and distress in animals." The Guide states that the ability to recognize the symptoms of pain in different species is vital in efficiently applying pain relief and that it is essential for the people caring for and using animals to be entirely familiar with these symptoms. On the subject of analgesics used to relieve pain, the Guide states "The selection of the most appropriate analgesic or anesthetic should reflect professional judgment as to which best meets clinical and humane requirements without compromising the scientific aspects of the research protocol". Accordingly, all issues of animal pain and distress, and their potential treatment with analgesia and anesthesia, are required regulatory issues in receiving animal protocol approval.
Euthanasia
There is general agreement that animal life should not be taken wantonly, and regulations require that scientists use as few animals as possible. However, while policy makers consider suffering to be the central issue and see animal euthanasia as a way to reduce suffering, others, such as the RSPCA, argue that the lives of laboratory animals have intrinsic value. Regulations focus on whether particular methods cause
painPhysical Pain is the unpleasant feeling common to a headache and a stubbed toe. It typically consists of negative affect and aversion, and has location, duration, intensity and a distinctive quality...
and
sufferingSuffering, or pain, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical, or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of...
, not whether their death is undesirable in itself. The animals are euthanized at the end of studies for sample collection or
post-mortem examinationAn autopsy–also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction–is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
; during studies if their pain or suffering falls into certain categories regarded as unacceptable, such as depression, infection that is unresponsive to treatment, or the failure of large animals to eat for five days; or when they are unsuitable for breeding or unwanted for some other reason.
Methods of euthanizing laboratory animals are chosen to induce rapid unconsciousness and death without pain or distress. The methods that are preferred are those published by councils of veterinarians. The animal can be made to inhale a gas, such as
carbon monoxideCarbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, yet very toxic to humans. It consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, connected by a covalent double bond and a dative covalent bond...
and
carbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state...
, by being placed in a chamber, or by use of a face mask, with or without prior sedation or anesthesia.
SedativeA sedative is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement.At higher doses it may result in slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes...
s or anesthetics such as
barbiturateBarbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and, by virtue of this, they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to total anesthesia. They are also effective as anxiolytics, hypnotics and as anticonvulsants. They have addiction potential, both physical and...
s can be given
intravenouslyIntravenous therapy or IV therapy is the giving of liquid substances directly into a vein. It can be intermittent or continuous; continuous administration is called an intravenous drip. The word intravenous simply means "within a vein", but is most commonly used to refer to IV therapy...
, or inhalant anesthetics may be used. Amphibians and fish may be immersed in water containing an anesthetic such as tricaine. Physical methods are also used, with or without sedation or anesthesia depending on the method. Recommended methods include
decapitationDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
(beheading) for small rodents or rabbits.
Cervical dislocationCervical Dislocation, "breaking the neck" or "snapping the spine" are terms used to describe this killing method intended to be quick and painless...
(breaking the neck or spine) may be used for birds, mice, and immature rats and rabbits.
MacerationMaceration may refer to:* Maceration , the softening or breaking into pieces with liquid* Maceration, in chemistry and herbalism, the preparation of an extract by soaking material in water, vegetable oil or some organic solvent...
(grinding into small pieces) is used on 1 day old chicks. High-intensity microwave
irradiationIrradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation. The exposure can be intentional, sometimes to serve a specific purpose, or it can be accidental...
of the brain can preserve brain tissue and induce death in less than 1 second, but this is currently only used on rodents. Captive bolts may be used, typically on dogs, ruminants, horses, pigs and rabbits. It causes death by a concussion to the brain. Gunshot may be used, but only in cases where a penetrating captive bolt may not be used. Some physical methods are only acceptable after the animal is unconscious.
ElectrocutionAn electric shock can occur upon contact of a human body with any source of voltage high enough to cause sufficient current through the muscles or hair. The minimum current a human can feel is thought to be about 1 milliampere ....
may be used for cattle, sheep, swine, foxes, and mink after the animals are unconscious, often by a prior electrical stun.
PithingPithing is a slaughtering technique in which the brain of the animal is scrambled with a tool inserted through the hole in the skull created by captive bolt stunning...
(inserting a tool into the base of the brain) is usable on animals already unconscious. Slow or rapid freezing, or inducing
air embolismAn air embolism, or more generally gas embolism, is a physiological condition caused by gas bubbles in a vascular system. The most common context is a human body, in which case it refers to gas bubbles in the bloodstream...
are acceptable only with prior anesthesia to induce unconsciousness.
Pure research
Basic or pure research investigates how organisms behave, develop, and function. Those opposed to animal testing object that pure research may have little or no practical purpose, but researchers argue that it may produce unforeseen benefits, rendering the distinction between pure and applied research — research that has a specific practical aim — unclear.
Pure research uses larger numbers and a greater variety of animals than applied research. Fruit flies, nematode worms, mice and rats together account for the vast majority, though small numbers of other species are used, ranging from
sea slugsThe California sea slug or California sea hare, scientific name Aplysia californica, is a species of sea slug, specifically a sea hare, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares.- Description :...
through to
armadilloArmadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths...
s.
Examples of the types of animals and experiments used in basic research include:
- Studies on embryogenesis
Embryogenesis is the process by which the embryo is formed and develops. It starts with the fertilization of the ovum which, after fertilization, is referred to as a zygote. The zygote undergoes rapid mitotic divisions with no significant growth and cellular differentiation, leading to...
and developmental biologyDevelopmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis," which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.Developmental biology is that...
. Mutants are created by adding transposonTransposons are sequences of DNA that can move around to different positions within the genome of a single cell, a process called transposition. In the process, they can cause mutations and change the amount of DNA in the genome. Transposons were also once called "jumping genes", and are examples...
s into their genomeIn modern molecular biology the genome refers to all of its hereditary information encoded in DNA .The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA. The term was adapted in 1920 by Hans Winkler, Professor of Botany at the University of Hamburg, Germany...
s, or specific genes are deleted by gene targetingGene targeting is a genetic technique that uses homologous recombination to change an endogenous gene. The method can be used to delete a gene, remove exons, add a gene, and introduce point mutations. Gene targeting can be permanent or conditional...
. By studying the changes in development these changes produce, scientists aim to understand both how organisms normally develop, and what can go wrong in this process. These studies are particularly powerful since the basic controls of development, such as the homeoboxA homeobox is a DNA sequence found within genes that are involved in the regulation of patterns of development in animals, fungi and plants.- Discovery :...
genes, have similar functions in organisms as diverse as fruit flies and man.
- Experiments into behavior, to understand how organisms detect and interact with each other and their environment, in which fruit flies, worms, mice, and rats are all widely used. Studies of brain function, such as memory and social behavior, often use rats and birds. For some species, behavioral research is combined with enrichment strategies for animals in captivity because it allows them to engage in a wider range of activities.
- Breeding experiments to study evolution
In biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
and geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
. Laboratory mice, flies, fish, and worms are inbredInbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it can lead to exposure of recessive, deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is called inbreeding depression. Deleterious alleles causing inbreeding...
through many generations to create strains with defined characteristics. These provide animals of a known genetic background, an important tool for genetic analyses. Larger mammals are rarely bred specifically for such studies due to their slow rate of reproduction, though some scientists take advantage of inbred domesticated animalsSelective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains which are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
, such as dog or cattle breeds, for comparativeComparative genomics is the study of the relationship of genome structure and function across different biological species or strains. Comparative genomics is an attempt to take advantage of the information provided by the signatures of selection to understand the function and evolutionary...
purposes. Scientists studying how animals evolve use many animal species to see how variations in where and how an organism lives (their nicheIn ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different school if the members of these schools utilize significantly different...
) produce adaptationAdaptation is the process whereby a population becomes better suited to its habitat. This process takes place over many generations, and is one of the basic phenomena of biology....
s in their physiology and morphologyComparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:Two major concepts of comparative anatomy are:...
. As an example, sticklebackThe Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera. However several of the species have a number of recognised subspecies, and the taxonomy of the family is thought to be in need of revision...
s are now being used to study how many and which types of mutations are selected to produce adaptations in animals' morphology during the evolution of new species.
Applied research
Applied research aims to solve specific and practical problems. Compared to pure research, which is largely academic in origin, applied research is usually carried out in the pharmaceutical industry, or by universities in commercial partnerships. These may involve the use of
animal modelAn animal model is a living, non-human animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease without the added risk of causing harm to an actual human being during the process...
s of diseases or conditions, which are often discovered or generated by pure research programmes. In turn, such applied studies may be an early stage in the
drug discoveryIn the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed.In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipitous discovery...
process. Examples include:
- Genetic modification of animals to study disease. Transgenic animals have specific genes inserted, modified or removed, to mimic specific conditions such as single gene disorders, such as Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease, chorea, or disorder , is an incurable neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and some cognitive functions, typically becoming noticeable in middle age. It is the most common genetic cause of abnormal involuntary writhing movements called chorea...
. Other models mimic complex, multifactorial diseases with genetic components, such as diabetesDiabetes mellitus —often referred to simply as diabetes—is a condition in which the body either does not produce enough, or does not properly respond to, insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin enables cells to absorb glucose in order to turn it into energy...
, or even transgenic mice that carry the same mutations that occur during the development of cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
. These models allow investigations on how and why the disease develops, as well as providing ways to develop and test new treatments. The vast majority of these transgenic models of human disease are lines of mice, the mammalian species in which genetic modification is most efficient. Smaller numbers of other animals are also used, including rats, pigs, sheep, fish, birds, and amphibians.
- Studies on models of naturally occurring disease and condition. Certain domestic and wild animals have a natural propensity or predisposition for certain conditions that are also found in humans. Cats are used as a model to develop immunodeficiency virus vaccines and to study leukemia
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood cells, usually white blood cells . Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
because their natural predisposition to FIV and Feline leukemia virusFeline leukemia virus is a retrovirus that infects cats. As a retrovirus, the genetic information of FeLV is carried by RNA instead of DNA. FeLV is usually transmitted between infected cats when the transfer of saliva or nasal secretions is involved. If not defeated by the animal’s immune system,...
. Certain breeds of dog suffer from narcolepsyNarcolepsy is chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia. The condition is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness in which a person experiences extreme fatigue and possibly falls asleep at inappropriate times, such as while at work or at school...
making them the major model used to study the human condition. ArmadilloArmadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths...
s and humans are among only a few animal species that naturally suffer from leprosyLeprosy , or Hansen's disease , is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external symptom...
; as the bacteria responsible for this disease cannot yet be grown in culture, armadillos are the primary source of bacilliBacilli refers to a taxonomic class of bacteria. It includes two orders, Bacillales and Lactobacillales, which contain several well-known pathogens like Bacillus anthracis .- Ambiguity :...
used in leprosy vaccines.
- Studies on induced animal models of human diseases. Here, an animal is treated so that it develops pathology
Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies...
and symptoms that resemble a human disease. Examples include restricting blood flow to the brain to induce strokeA stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage...
, or giving neurotoxinA neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels.Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
s that cause damage similar to that seen in Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills, speech, and other functions....
. Such studies can be difficult to interpret, and it is argued that they are not always comparable to human diseases. For example, although such models are now widely used to study Parkinson's disease, the British anti-vivisection interest group BUAVThe British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection group based in London, UK which campaigns for the complete abolition of all animal experiments. BUAV engages in education, research, lobbying, investigations, including undercover work in laboratories, and legal...
argues that these models only superficially resemble the disease symptoms, without the same time course or cellular pathology. In contrast, scientists assessing the usefulness of animal models of Parkinson's disease, as well as the medical research charity The Parkinson's Appeal, state that these models were invaluable and that they led to improved surgical treatments such as pallidotomyPallidotomy is a procedure where a tiny electrical probe is placed in the globus pallidus , which is then heated to 80 degrees celsius for 60 s, to destroy a small area of brain cells...
, new drug treatments such as levodopaL-DOPA is a naturally-occurring dietary supplement and psychoactive drug found in certain kinds of food and herbs, and is synthesized from the essential amino acids...
, and later deep brain stimulationDeep brain stimulation is a surgical treatment involving the implantation of a medical device called a brain pacemaker, which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain...
.
Xenotransplantation
XenotransplantationXenotransplantation is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another, such as from pigs to humans . Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants...
research involves transplanting tissues, or organs from one species to another, as a way to overcome the shortage of human organs for use in
organ transplantOrgan transplant is the moving of an organ from one body to another , for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site. Organ donors can be living or deceased...
s. Current research involves using primates as the recipients of organs from pigs that have been genetically-modified to reduce the primates'
immune responseAn immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
against the pig tissue. Although
transplant rejectionTransplant rejection occurs when a transplanted organ or tissue is not accepted by the body of the transplant recipient. This is explained by the concept that the immune system of the recipient attacks the transplanted organ or tissue...
remains a problem, recent clinical trials that involved implanting pig insulin-secreting cells into diabetics did reduce these people's need for insulin.
The British Home Office released figures in 1999 showing that 270 monkeys had been used in xenotransplantation research in Britain during the previous four years. Documents leaked from
Huntingdon Life SciencesHuntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal-testing company founded in 1952 in England, now with facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Eye, Suffolk in the UK; New Jersey in the U.S.; and in Japan. The largest such commercial operation in Europe, with 1700 staff...
to The Observer
in 2003 showed, between 1994 and 2000, wild baboons were imported to the UK from Africa to be used in experiments that involved grafting pigs' hearts and kidneys onto the primates' necks, abdomens, and chests. The Observer
reports that some baboons died after suffering strokes, vomiting, diarrhea, and paralysis, while others died en route to the UK. The experiments were conducted by Imutran Ltd, a subsidiary of
NovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in revenues, which accounted over $53 billion in 2008, and number three in sales, which accounted 36.172 billon in 2008. Novartis is one of the largest healthcare companies in the...
Pharma AG in conjunction with Cambridge University and Huntingdon Life Sciences. Novartis told the newspaper that developing new cures for humans invariably means experimenting on live animals.
The newspaper also wrote that researchers were deliberately underestimating the suffering in order to obtain licences. A report from Imutran said: "The Home Office will attempt to get the kidney transplants classified as 'moderate,' ensuring that it is easier for Imutran to receive a licence and ignoring the 'severe' nature of these programmes."
Toxicology testing
Toxicology testing, also known as safety testing, is conducted by pharmaceutical companies testing drugs, or by contract animal testing facilities, such as
Huntingdon Life SciencesHuntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal-testing company founded in 1952 in England, now with facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Eye, Suffolk in the UK; New Jersey in the U.S.; and in Japan. The largest such commercial operation in Europe, with 1700 staff...
, on behalf of a wide variety of customers. According to 2005 EU figures, around one million animals are used every year in Europe in toxicology tests; which are about 10% of all procedures. According to Nature, 5,000 animals are used for each chemical being tested, with 12,000 needed to test pesticides. The tests are conducted without
anesthesiaAnesthesia, or anaesthesia , has traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away. This allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience...
, because
interactions between drugsA drug interaction is a situation in which a substance affects the activity of a drug, i.e. the effects are increased or decreased, or they produce a new effect that neither produces on its own. Typically, interaction between drugs come to mind...
can affect how animals
detoxifyXenobiotic metabolism is the set of metabolic pathways that modify the chemical structure of xenobiotics, which are compounds foreign to an organism's normal biochemistry, such as drugs and poisons. These pathways are a form of biotransformation present in all major groups of organisms, and are...
chemicals, and may interfere with the results.
Toxicology tests are used to examine finished products such as
pesticideA pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest.A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substance intended for:- preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest....
s,
medicationA pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
s, food additives, packing materials, and air freshener, or their chemical ingredients. Most tests involve testing ingredients rather than finished products, but according to BUAV, manufacturers believe these tests overestimate the toxic effects of substances; they therefore repeat the tests using their finished products to obtain a less toxic label.
The substances are applied to the skin or dripped into the eyes; injected intravenously, intramuscularly, or subcutaneously; inhaled either by placing a mask over the animals and restraining them, or by placing them in an inhalation chamber; or administered orally, through a tube into the stomach, or simply in the animal's food. Doses may be given once, repeated regularly for many months, or for the lifespan of the animal.
There are several different types of
acute toxicityAcute toxicity describes the adverse effects of a substance which result either from a single exposure or from multiple exposures in a short space of time...
tests. The
LD50In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 , LC50 or LCt50 of a toxic substance or radiation is the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population...
("Lethal Dose 50%") test is used to evaluate the toxicity of a substance by determining the dose required to kill 50% of the test animal
populationIn statistics, a statistical population is a set of entities concerning which statistical inferences are to be drawn, often based on a random sample taken from the population. For example, if we were interested in generalizations about crows, then we would describe the set of crows that is of...
. This test was removed from
OECDThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organisation of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy...
international guidelines in 2002, replaced by methods such as the
fixed dose procedureFixed Dose Procedure , proposed in 1984, is a method to assess a substance's acute oral toxicity. In comparison to older LD50 test developed in 1927, this procedure produces accurate, reproducible results using fewer animals and causing less pain and suffering...
, which use fewer animals and cause less suffering. Nature writes that, as of 2005, "the LD50 acute toxicity test ... still accounts for one-third of all animal [toxicity] tests worldwide."
Irritancy is usually measured using the
Draize testThe Draize Test is an acute toxicity test devised in 1944 by Food and Drug Administration toxicologist John H. Draize. Initially used for testing cosmetics, the procedure involves applying 0.5mL or 0.5g of a test substance to the eye or skin of a restrained, conscious animal, and leaving it for...
, where a test substance is applied to an animal's eyes or skin, usually an albino rabbit. For Draize eye testing, the recommended protocol involves observing the effects of the substance at intervals and grading any damage or irritation, but that the test should be halted and the animal killed if it shows "continuing signs of severe pain or distress". The
Humane Society of the United StatesThe Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2007, it had 10.6 million members, and a budget of US$120 million....
writes that the procedure can cause redness, ulceration, hemorrhaging, cloudiness, or even blindness. This test has also been criticized by scientists for being cruel and inaccurate, subjective, over-sensitive, and failing to reflect human exposures in the real world. Although no accepted in vitro
alternatives exist, a modified form of the Draize test called the low volume eye test may reduce suffering and provide more realistic results, but it has not yet replaced the original test.
The most stringent tests are reserved for drugs and foodstuffs. For these, a number of tests are performed, lasting less than a month (acute), one to three months (subchronic), and more than three months (chronic) to test general toxicity (damage to organs), eye and skin irritancy,
mutagenIn biology, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that changes the genetic material of an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations cause cancer, mutagens are typically also carcinogens...
icity,
carcinogenA carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide or radiation that is an agent directly involved in the promotion of cancer or in the increase of its propagation. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes...
icity, teratogenicity, and reproductive problems. The cost of the full complement of tests is several million dollars per substance and it may take three or four years to complete.
These toxicity tests provide, in the words of a 2006
United States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
report, "critical information for assessing hazard and risk potential". However, as Nature reported, most animal tests either over- or underestimate risk, or do not reflect toxicity in humans particularly well, with false positive results being a particular problem. This variability stems from using the effects of high doses of chemicals in small numbers of laboratory animals to try to predict the effects of low doses in large numbers of humans. Although relationships do exist, opinion is divided on how to use data on one species to predict the exact level of risk in another.
Cosmetics testing
Cosmetics testing on animals is particularly controversial. Such tests, which are still conducted in the U.S., involve general toxicity, eye and skin irritancy,
phototoxicPhototoxicity is a phenomenon known in live-cell, where illuminating a fluorescent molecule causes the selective death of the cells expressing it.-In fluorescence microscopy:...
ity (toxicity triggered by
ultravioletUltraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
light) and mutagenicity.
Cosmetics testing is banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK, and in 2002, after 13 years of discussion, the European Union (EU) agreed to phase in a near-total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics throughout the EU from 2009, and to ban all cosmetics-related animal testing. France, which is home to the world's largest cosmetics company,
L'OrealThe L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company and is headquartered in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France. L'Oréal has developed activities in the field of cosmetics, concentrating on hair colour, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfumes and hair care. ...
, has protested the proposed ban by lodging a case at the
European Court of JusticeThe European Court of Justice , is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law. It is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its equal application across all EU member states. The Court was established in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg...
in
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
, asking that the ban be quashed. The ban is also opposed by the European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients, which represents 70 companies in Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.
Drug testing
Before the early 20th century, laws regulating drugs were lax. Nowadays all new pharmaceuticals undergo rigorous animal testing before being licensed for human use. Tests on pharmaceutical products involve:
- metabolic tests, investigating pharmacokinetics
Pharmacokinetics is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism...
- how drugs are absorbed, metabolizedDrug metabolism is the metabolism of drugs, their biochemical modification or degradation, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. This is a form of xenobiotic metabolism. Drug metabolism often converts lipophilic chemical compounds into more readily excreted polar products...
and excretedExcretion is the process of eliminating waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials. It is an essential process in all forms of life. It contrasts secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell....
by the body when introduced orally, intravenously, intraperitoneally, intramuscularly, or transdermallyA transdermal patch or skin patch is a medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream. Often, this promotes healing to an injured area of the body...
.
- toxicology tests, which gauge acute
Acute toxicity describes the adverse effects of a substance which result either from a single exposure or from multiple exposures in a short space of time...
, sub-acute, and chronic toxicityChronic toxicity is a property of a substance that has toxic effects on a living organism, when that organism is exposed to the substance continuously or repeatedly. Compared with acute toxicity.Two distinct situations need to be considered:...
. Acute toxicity is studied by using a rising dose until signs of toxicity become apparent. Current European legislation demands that "acute toxicity tests must be carried out in two or more mammalian species" covering "at least two different routes of administration". Sub-acute toxicity is where the drug is given to the animals for four to six weeks in doses below the level at which it causes rapid poisoning, in order to discover if any toxic drug metabolitesDrug metabolism is the metabolism of drugs, their biochemical modification or degradation, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. This is a form of xenobiotic metabolism. Drug metabolism often converts lipophilic chemical compounds into more readily excreted polar products...
build up over time. Testing for chronic toxicity can last up to two years and, in the European Union, is required to involve two species of mammals, one of which must be non-rodent.
- efficacy studies, which test whether experimental drugs work by inducing the appropriate illness in animals. The drug is then administered in a double-blind controlled trial
A randomized controlled trial is a type of scientific experiment most commonly used in testing the efficacy or effectiveness of healthcare services or health technologies . RCTs are also employed in other research areas, such as judicial, educational, and social research...
, which allows researchers to determine the effect of the drug and the dose-response curve.
- Specific tests on reproductive function, embryonic toxicity, or carcinogenic potential can all be required by law, depending on the result of other studies and the type of drug being tested.
Education, breeding, and defense
Animals are also used for
educationEducation in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual...
and training; are bred for use in laboratories; and are used by the military to develop weapons, vaccines, battlefield surgical techniques, and defensive clothing. For example, in 2008 the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used live pigs to study the effects of
improvised explosive deviceAn improvised explosive device is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
explosions on internal organs, especially the brain.
There are efforts in many countries to find alternatives to using animals in education. Horst Spielmann, German director of the Central Office for Collecting and Assessing Alternatives to Animal Experimentation, while describing Germany's progress in this area, told German broadcaster
ARDARD , is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
in 2005: "Using animals in teaching curricula is already superfluous. In many countries, one can become a doctor, vet or biologist without ever having performed an experiment on an animal."
Ethics
The
ethicalEthics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined , how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations , how moral...
questions raised by performing experiments on animals are subject to much debate, and viewpoints have shifted significantly over the 20th century. There remain strong disagreements about which animal testing procedures are useful for which purposes, as well as disagreements over which ethical principles apply, and to which species of animals. The dominant ethical position, worldwide, is that achievement of scientific and medical goals using animal testing is desirable, provided that animal
sufferingSuffering, or pain, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical, or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of...
and use is minimized. The British government has additionally required that the cost to animals in an experiment be weighed against the gain in knowledge.
A wide range of minority viewpoints exist as well. The view that animals have moral rights (
animal rightsAnimal rights, also referred to as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of humans...
) is a philosophical position proposed by
Tom ReganTom Regan is an American philosopher who specializes in animal rights theory. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, where he taught from 1967 until his retirement in 2001.Regan is the author of four books on the philosophy of animal rights, including The Case...
, who argues that animals are beings with beliefs, desires and self-consciousness. Such beings are seen as having inherent value and thus possessing
rightRights are entitlements or permissions, usually of a legal or moral nature. Rights are of vital importance in the fields of law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.-Theoretical distinctions:...
s. Regan still sees clear ethical differences between killing animals and killing humans, and argues that to save human lives it is permissible to kill animals.
However, some such as
Bernard RollinBernard E. Rollin is a philosopher widely recognized for his approach to animal rights, as well as his influence in politics. At Colorado State University, he holds the position of University Distinguished Professor. -Career:...
have taken his position further and argue that any benefits to human beings cannot outweigh animal suffering, and that human beings have no moral right to use an individual animal in ways that do not benefit that individual. Another prominent position is articulated by
Peter SingerPeter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics , University of Melbourne...
, who sees no convincing reason to include a being's species in considerations of whether their suffering is important in
utilitarianUtilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people...
moral considerations.
Although these arguments have not been widely accepted, in response to these concerns some governments such as the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
have outlawed invasive experiments on certain classes of non-human primates, particularly the
great apesGreat Apes may refer to*Great apes, species in the biological family Hominidae, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans*Great Apes , a 1997 novel by Will Self...
.
Some medicial schools or agencies built
cenotaphA cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάϕιον...
s (慰灵碑) for killed animals. A large one is in
Wuhan UniversityWuhan University is a university in China. It is a key university directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is regarded as one of the best and most selective universities in China...
for monkeys died in SARS testing.
Prominent cases
Huntingdon Life Sciences
In 1997,
People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. With two million members and supporters worldwide, it claims the status of the largest animal rights group in the world...
(PETA) filmed staff inside
Huntingdon Life SciencesHuntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal-testing company founded in 1952 in England, now with facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Eye, Suffolk in the UK; New Jersey in the U.S.; and in Japan. The largest such commercial operation in Europe, with 1700 staff...
(HLS) in the UK, Europe's largest animal-testing facility, hitting puppies, shouting at them, and simulating sex acts while taking blood samples. The employees were dismissed and prosecuted, and HLS's licence to perform animal experiments was revoked for six months. The broadcast of the undercover footage on British television in 1997 triggered the formation of
Stop Huntingdon Animal CrueltyStop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences , Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates...
, an international campaign to close HLS, which has been criticized for its sometimes violent tactics.
Dolly the sheep
In February 1997 a team at the
Roslin InstituteThe Roslin Institute is an animal sciences research institute at Roslin, a village in Midlothian, Scotland, that is sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
announced the birth of Dolly the sheep, a ewe that had been
clonedCloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or organisms...
from tissue taken from another adult sheep. Dolly was produced through
nuclear transferNuclear Transfer is a form of cloning. The steps involve removing the DNA from an oocyte , and injecting the nucleus which contains the DNA to be cloned. In rare instances, the newly constructed cell will divide normally, replicating the new DNA while remaining in a pluripotent state...
to an unfertilised
oocyteAn oocyte, ovocyte, or rarely ocyte, is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is part of the ovary development. The germ cells produce a primordial germ cell which becomes an oogonium which marks the start of mitosis...
, and was the only lamb that survived from 277 attempts at this technique. Dolly appeared to be a normal sheep, living for six years and giving birth to several lambs, but was euthanized in 2003 after contracting a progressive lung disease. Although the production of Dolly was a scientific breakthrough, it was controversial, since it showed that not only could cloned animals be produced for use in farming, but also that it would now be, in principle, possible to clone a human being.
Covance
In 2004, German journalist Friedrich Mülln shot undercover footage of staff in
CovanceCovance Inc. , formerly Corning Incorporated, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is a contract research organization providing drug development and animal testing services...
,
MünsterMünster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region and it is also capital of the local government region Regierungsbezirk Münster...
, Europe's largest primate-testing center, making monkeys dance in time to blaring pop music, handling them roughly, and screaming at them. The monkeys were kept isolated in small wire cages with little or no natural light, no environmental enrichment, and high noise levels from staff shouting and playing the radio (video).
PrimatologistPrimatology is the study of primates. It is a diverse discipline and primatologists can be found in departments of biology, anthropology, psychology and many others. It is a branch of Physical anthropology, which, in itself, studies the genus Homo, especially Homo sapiens...
Dr.
Jane GoodallDame Jane Goodall, DBE is an English UN Messenger of Peace, primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist...
described the living conditions of the monkeys as "horrendous." Primatologist Stephen Brend told BUAV that using monkeys in such a stressed state is "bad science," and trying to extrapolate useful data in such circumstances an "untenable proposition." Covance obtained a restraining order preventing Mülln from performing any further undercover research against the company for three years, and required him and PETA to turn over the material they obtained from Covance. PETA is further prevented from attempting to infiltrate Covance for five years.
University of Cambridge
The
British Union for the Abolition of VivisectionThe British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection group based in London, UK which campaigns for the complete abolition of all animal experiments. BUAV engages in education, research, lobbying, investigations, including undercover work in laboratories, and legal...
(BUAV) raised concerns about primate experiments at the
University of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge , located in the City of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is the second oldest university in the English-speaking world and the fourth oldest in Europe...
in 2002. In a series of court cases, the BUAV alleged that monkeys had undergone surgery to induce a stroke, and were left alone after the procedure for 15 hours overnight. Researchers had trained the monkeys to perform certain tasks before inflicting brain damage and re-testing them. The monkeys were only given food and water for two hours a day, to encourage them to perform the tasks. The judge hearing BUAV's application for a judicial review rejected the allegation that the Home Secretary had been negligent in granting the university a license. The British government's chief inspector of animals conducted a review of the facilities and experiments. It concluded the veterinary input at Cambridge was "exemplary"; the facility "seems adequately staffed"; and the animals afforded "appropriate standards of accommodation and care."
University of California, Riverside
One of the cases of alleged abuse involved
BritchesBritches was the name given by researchers to a stump-tailed macaque monkey born into a breeding colony at the University of California, Riverside...
, a macaque monkey born in 1985 at the
University of California, RiversideThe University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban district of , United States, with a branch campus of in Palm Desert...
, removed from its mother at birth, and left alone with its eyelids sewn shut, and a sonar sensor on its head, as part of an experiment to test
sensory substitutionSensory substitution means to transform the characteristics of one sensory modality into stimuli of another sensory modality. It is hoped that sensory substitution systems can help handicapped people by restoring their ability to perceive a certain defective sensory modality by using sensory...
devices for
blindBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
people. 260 animals, including Britches, were stolen from the laboratories at the University of California, Riverside in a raid by the
Animal Liberation FrontThe Animal Liberation Front is a name used internationally by animal liberation activists who engage in direct action on behalf of animals. This includes removing animals from laboratories and fur farms and sabotaging various facilities...
. The university alleged that damage to the monkey's eyelids, caused by the sutures according to the ALF, had in fact been caused by an ALF veterinarian, and that the sonar device had been removed and re-attached by the activists. The ALF reported that Britches was later transferred to a sanctuary in Mexico. University officials reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage was done by the theft, and by smashing laboratory equipment, and years of medical research were lost.
Columbia University
CNN reported in October 2003 that a post-doctoral "whistleblowing"
veterinarianA veterinarian or a veterinary surgeon , often shortened to vet, is a physician for animals and a practitioner of veterinary medicine. The word comes from the Latin veterinae meaning "working animals"...
at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
approached the university's
Institutional Animal Care and Use CommitteeInstitutional Animal Care and Use Committees are of central importance to the application of laws to animal research in the United States. Most research involving laboratory animals is funded by the United States National Institutes of Health or other federal agencies...
about experiments being carried out by an assistant professor of
neurosurgeryNeurosurgery is the surgery discipline focused on treating the central nervous system, peripheral nervous systems and spinal column diseases amenable to surgical intervention....
, E. Sander Connolly.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/10/12/columbia.animals.ap Connolly was allegedly causing strokes in baboons by removing their left eyeballs and using the eye sockets to reach a critical
blood vesselThe blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart, the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...
to their brains. A clamp was placed on the blood vessel until the stroke was induced, after which Connolly would try to treat the condition with an experimental drug. In a letter to the National Institute of Health, PETA cited the case of a baboon they said was unable to sit up or eat, and remained slouched over in its cage, before dying two days later. An investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture found the experiments did not violate federal guidelines. Connolly abandoned the research saying he felt under attack after receiving a threatening e-mail, but continued to believe his experiments were humane and potentially valuable.
Threats to researchers
University of California, Los Angeles
In 2006, a primate researcher at the
University of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system...
(UCLA) shut down the experiments in his lab after threats from animal rights activists. The researcher had received a grant to use 30
macaqueThe macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. Aside from humans , the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from northern Africa to Japan...
monkeys for vision experiments; each monkey was anesthetized for a single physiological experiment lasting up to 120 hours, and then euthanized. The researcher's name, phone number, and address were posted on the website of the
Primate Freedom Project]The Primate Freedom Project is a 501 not-for-profit grassroots abolitionist animal rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is dedicated to ending the use of nonhuman primates in biomedical and harmful behavioral experimentation...
. Demonstrations were held in front of his home. A
Molotov cocktailThe Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, or Molotov bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
was placed on the porch of what was believed to be the home of another UCLA primate researcher; instead, it was accidentally left on the porch of an elderly woman unrelated to the university. The
Animal Liberation FrontThe Animal Liberation Front is a name used internationally by animal liberation activists who engage in direct action on behalf of animals. This includes removing animals from laboratories and fur farms and sabotaging various facilities...
claimed responsibility for the attack. As a result of the campaign, the researcher sent an email to the Primate Freedom Project stating "you win," and "please don’t bother my family anymore." In another incident at UCLA in June 2007, the Animal Liberation Brigade placed a bomb under the car of a UCLA children's ophthalmologist who experiments on cats and rhesus monkeys; the bomb had a faulty fuse and did not detonate. UCLA is now refusing
Freedom of Information ActThe Freedom of Information Act , as amended, represents the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United States. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 6, 1966 , and went into effect the following year...
requests for animal medical records.
These attacks, as well as similar incidents that caused the
Southern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American non-profit legal organization, internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of organizations it calls hate groups....
to declare in 2002 that the animal rights movement had "clearly taken a turn toward the more extreme," this prompted the US government to pass the
Animal Enterprise Terrorism ActThe Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act is a United States federal law originally introduced in the 109th Congress by Republican Thomas Petri of Wisconsin and Senators Dianne Feinstein and James Inhofe . The final version of the bill, S...
and the UK government to add the offense of "Intimidation of persons connected with animal research organisation" to the
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency, it also significantly extended and simplified the powers of arrest of a constable and introduced unprecedented restrictions on...
. Such legislation, and the arrest and imprisonment of extremists may have decreased the incidence of attacks.
Alternatives to animal testing
Scientists and governments state that animal testing should cause as little suffering to animals as possible, and that animal tests should only be performed where necessary. The "three Rs" are guiding
principlesThe term moral obligation has a number of meanings in moral philosophy, in religion, and in layman's terms. Generally speaking, when someone says of an act that it is a "moral obligation," they refer to a belief that the act is one prescribed by their set of values.Moral philosophers differ as to...
for the use of animals in research in most countries:
- Reduction refers to methods that enable researchers to obtain comparable levels of information from fewer animals, or to obtain more information from the same number of animals.
- Replacement refers to the preferred use of non-animal methods over animal methods whenever it is possible to achieve the same scientific aim.
- Refinement refers to methods that alleviate or minimize potential pain, suffering or distress, and enhance animal welfare for the animals still used.
Although such principles have been welcomed as a step forwards by some animal welfare groups, they have also been criticized as both outdated by current research, and of little practical effect in improving animal welfare.