Stop The Insanity Alternatives To Animal Testing

Stop The Insanity: Alternatives To Animal Testing Essay, Research Paper

Stop The Insanity: Alternatives to Animal Testing

Every year, nearly 100 million animals die in research laboratories at the hands of curious scientists who perform outdated and inaccurate tests that prove no benefit to humans or animals.(Day 58) Before these animals die, they are routinely burned, scalded, poisoned, starved, given electric shocks, addicted to drugs, subjected to near freezing temperatures, dosed with radioactive elements, driven insane, and deliberately inflicted with diseases such as cancer, diabetes, oral infections, stomach ulcers, Syphilis, herpes, and AIDS.(McCoy 70-75) Their eyes are surgically removed; their brains and spinal cords damaged, and their bones broken.(McCoy 75-76) The use of anesthesia is not mandated by law, and as a result, is rarely administered.(McCoy 76) Despite all of this cruelty, animal experimentation has failed to provide any major breakthroughs this century in the treatment of cancer and heart disease — two of our biggest killers, though both these diseases remain largely preventable.(Goldberg et al. Animals and Alternatives 68) Alternatives to animal testing do exist and should be implemented throughout the scientific community.

In the latter half of this century the controversy of animal testing has grown significantly. It has been due, in large part, to the tension between researchers who view laboratory animals as essential to their work and individuals who oppose animal tests because the modern alternatives movement has evolved.(Day 11) The movement began quietly, in 1959, with the publication of The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique by British researchers Rex Burch and William Russell.(Balls et al. Three Rs 105) Burch and Russell advocated the “three Rs” of reduction, refinement and replacement.(Balls et al. Three Rs 105) In the 1980s and 1990s, their philosophy has enabled researchers and animal welfare advocates to come together with a common goal: to find scientifically valid alternatives to animal tests, following the principle that humane science is good science.(Burch and Russell 8) In more recent years, the term “alternative” has evolved as scientific advancements have been made in the fields of molecular and cellular biology.(Balls et al. Animals 210) Today there are many more alternatives to animal testing, many of them more efficient and accurate.(Festing 256-257)

The first of Burch and Russell’s “three Rs” is reduction. The term reduction alternative describes a method for obtaining comparable levels of information from the use of fewer animals in scientific procedures or for obtaining more information from a given number of animals so that, in the long run, fewer animals are needed to complete a given research project or test.(Burch and Russell 125) The greater the number of animals used, the greater the overall costs will be in terms of animal suffering. Therefore, the number of animals used should be the minimum that is consistent with the aims of the experiment. A large problem currently is poor experimental design used in biomedical research.(Salem 284) In some cases, the level of statistical expertise appears to be so low that investigators are unable to obtain appropriate statistical analysis of experimental results, which leads to the inefficient use of animals and scientific resources in research (Salem 284). A basic understanding of experimental design and statistics is necessary for all scientists. Biomedical research workers should have more detailed training in biometrics and statistics so that they can act as consultants to other investigators in their own institutes. Reduction can be achieved by improved experimental design, through consultation with statisticians and experimental design specialists.(Hendriksen and Koeter 99) This is also accomplished by careful consideration of animal disease status and genotype, appropriateness of strain or species and the quality of the animal husbandry, all to minimize experimental variation.(Salem 80)

The second “R”, according to Burch and Russell, is refinement. Refinement alternatives encompass those methods that alleviate or minimize potential pain and distress and enhance animal well-being.(Burch and Russell 139) Distress is an aversive state in which an animal is unable to adapt completely to stressors and, as a result, shows maladaptive behavior.(Burch and Russell 139) The stressors may induce physiological, psychological, or environmental stress. Pain results from potential or actual tissue damage, such as that caused by injury, surgery, or disease, which leads to distress(). Much potential pain and distress can be avoided or alleviated with the proper use of anesthetics, analgesics, and tranquilizers. This critical component of any comprehensive program of veterinary care provides for frequent observation of the animals by a trained veterinary staff to detect and relieve pain and distress. However, a substantial number of animals used in research and testing experience unrelieved pain and distress.(Reinhardt 56) At present, scientists do not have a convenient and standardized way of objectively assessing animal pain and distress.(Goldberg et al. World Congress 565) Rather, the assessment is generally based on subjective clinical signs of abnormal behavior and appearance.(Goldberg et al. World Congress 565) Although the implementation of re