If lack of human relevance is the fatal flaw of “animal models,” then a switch to human-relevant research tools is the logical solution. Drug failures and research that never delivers because of irrelevant animal models not only delay medical progress, but also waste resources and risk the health and safety of volunteers in clinical trials. As a consequence, nine out of every 10 candidate medicines that appear safe and effective in animal studies fail when given to humans. Very often the symptoms and responses to potential treatments seen in other species are dissimilar to those of human patients. Trying to mirror human diseases or toxicity by artificially creating symptoms in mice, dogs or monkeys has major scientific limitations that cannot be overcome. Similarly, health scientists are increasingly questioning the relevance of research aimed at “modelling” human diseases in the laboratory by artificially creating symptoms in other animal species. Aside from the ethical issues they pose-inflicting both physical pain as well as psychological distress and suffering on large numbers of sentient creatures-animal tests are time- and resource-intensive, restrictive in the number of substances that can be tested, provide little understanding of how chemicals behave in the body, and in many cases do not correctly predict real-world human reactions. What’s wrong with animal testing?įor nearly a century, drug and chemical safety assessments have been based on laboratory testing involving rodents, rabbits, dogs, and other animals. HSI believes that complete transparency about animal use is vital and that all animals bred, used or killed for the research industry should be included in official figures. Although these animals still endure the stresses and deprivation of life in the sterile laboratory environment, their lives are not recorded in official statistics. British statistics reflect the use of more than 3 million animals each year, but this number does not include animals bred for research but killed as “surplus” without being used for specific experimental procedures. Within the European Union, more than 12 million animals are used each year, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom being the top three animal using countries. Department of Agriculture are no doubt a substantial underestimate. For example, in the United States, up to 90 percent of the animals used in laboratories (purpose-bred rats, mice and birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates) are excluded from the official statistics, meaning that figures published by the U.S. But because only a small proportion of countries collect and publish data concerning animal use for testing and research, the precise number is unknown. It is estimated that more than 115 million animals worldwide are used in laboratory experiments every year. Video: Watch what scientists have to say about alternatives to animal testing. Many different species are used around the world, but the most common include mice, fish, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, farm animals, birds, cats, dogs, mini-pigs, and non-human primates (monkeys, and in some countries, chimpanzees).
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