Europe's achievements in science and technology have been significant and research and development
efforts form an integral part of the European economy. Europe has been
the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific
disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering.
Scientific research in Europe is supported by industry, by the European
universities and by several scientific institutions. All the raw output
of scientific research from Europe consistently ranks among the world's
best.
Historical overview
Mathematics flourished in the Greek world from 600 BC to 300 AD. However, the study of mathematics was de-emphasized when the Roman Empire was in power, and became even less important after the fall of Rome.
Medieval Europeans were interested in mathematics for different
reasons than modern mathematicians are; namely, they studied mathematics
because they thought it was the basis to understand the created order
of nature, as explained in Timaeus by Plato and the Book of Wisdom.
During the 16th century, Europe (and by extension their colonies) underwent the Scientific Revolution as natural philosophers began to obtain exact measurements and base their theories on experiments and observations.
During this era, mathematics and astronomy were the branches of science
that spearheaded the Scientific Revolution, and princely courts were a
source of patronage for the sciences. Natural philosophers of this time tried to grasp the laws of nature as a way to understand God's mind, and though Jesuits welcomed the flourishing of science, some Christian authorities instead responded to it by accusing natural philosophers of heresy.
Although the European Union was only founded in 1993, the tradition of scientific research in Europe is much older and can be traced back to the scientific revolution. Europe is home to some of the world's oldest universities, such as the University of Bologna, although the oldest European universities were, at the time of their foundation, more centered on philosophy, theology and law than on science.
In the time since World War II, science and technology has played ever more critical roles in the lives of Europeans.
EU enterprises embraced modern digital technology, and in recent
years, they have closed an 11-point deficit with the United States in
their usage of those technologies. As of 2023, 70% of EU enterprises use innovative digital technology, reducing the gap with the US.
Chemistry
is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter, its
properties, composition, and the changes it undergoes. It explores the
interactions and transformations of atoms and molecules, providing
insights into the fundamental principles that govern the physical and
chemical world around us.
Chemistry is divided into various sub-disciplines, including
organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical
chemistry, and biochemistry. Organic chemistry focuses on the study of
carbon compounds, while inorganic chemistry examines the properties and
behavior of inorganic substances. Physical chemistry delves into the
principles and theories that explain the behavior of matter and the
energy changes associated with chemical reactions. Analytical chemistry
involves the identification and quantification of substances and their
properties. Biochemistry explores the chemical processes that occur
within living organisms.
Chemistry plays a vital role in numerous aspects of our daily
lives. It is essential for understanding the composition and behavior of
materials, developing new medicines, designing and optimizing
industrial processes, addressing environmental issues, and much more.
The discoveries and advancements in chemistry have revolutionized
various fields, including medicine, agriculture, energy, materials
science, and technology, making it a central science that impacts our
world in profound ways.
Mathematics
Mathematics flourished in the Greek world from 600 BC to 300 AD, but
mathematical philosophy was de-emphasized over practical methods during
the rise of the Roman Empire.
After the fall of Rome, many ancient mathematical works were lost or
destroyed, and the role of mathematics was further reduced by Europe's
political fragmentation.
The idea of Hindu-Arabic numerals came to Europe c. 1200 AD, but was not immediately popular due to use of the old Roman numerals. The system of Arabic numerals was popularized by Italian mathematician Leonardo de Pisa (more famously known as Fibonacci),
and had finally become popular among merchants in Italy, France,
Germany, and Britain for accounting by 1400, and in use by most
textbooks by the mid-15th century.
Our current notations for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and equations
were also invented in Europe. The + and – signs were first used in
warehouses, then appeared in print in 1526 in a German math book. The symbols for multiplication and division came later. The equal sign was first used in England in 1557. Mathematicians represented unknown quantities in equations with letters by 1600.
Though mathematics had a secondary role in the mid-16th century,
it became considered the most powerful tool of scientific research by
the 18th century, as a general mathematization of civil life took place.
Animal
Welfare Act of 1966 intended to regulate the transport, sale and
handling of dogs, cats, guinea pigs, nonhuman primates, hamsters and
rabbits intended to use for research or other purposes.
The Animal Welfare Act (Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States)89–544) was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 24, 1966. It is the main federal law in the United States
that regulates the treatment of animals in research and exhibition.
Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species
coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the
Animal Welfare Act (otherwise known as the "AWA") as the minimally
acceptable standard for animal treatment and care. The USDA and APHIS
oversee the AWA and the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have
primary legislative jurisdiction over the Act. Animals covered under
this Act include any live or dead cat, dog, hamster, rabbit, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, and any other warm-blooded animal determined by the Secretary of Agriculture for research, pet use or exhibition. Excluded from the Act are birds, rats of the genus Rattus (laboratory rats), mice of the genus Mus (laboratory mice), farm animals, and all cold-blooded animals.
As enacted in 1966, the AWA required all animal dealers to be
registered and licensed as well as liable to monitoring by Federal
regulators and suspension of their license if they violate any
provisions of the Animal Welfare Act and imprisonment of up to a year
accompanied by a fine of $1,000.
As of the 1985 AWA amendment, all research facilities covered by the
Animal Welfare Act have been required to establish a specialized
committee that includes at least one person trained as a veterinarian
and one not affiliated with the facility. Such committees regularly
assess animal care, treatment, and practices during research, and are
required to inspect all animal study areas at least once every six
months. The committees are also required to ensure that alternatives to
animal use in experimentation would be used whenever possible.
History
Worldwide, the first law to regulate animal experimentation was Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It established a central governing body that reviewed and approved all
animal use in research. After that, numerous countries in Europe adopted
regulations regarding research with animals.
Although Congress discussed laboratory animal welfare in the
early 1960s, there was not enough interest to pass legislation until
articles published by Sports Illustrated and Life in 1965 and 1966, respectively, generated a public outcry.
The first article, written by Coles Phinizy, appeared in the
November 29, 1965, issue of Sports Illustrated. The piece detailed the
story of Pepper the Dalmatian, a dog that disappeared from the yard of the Lakavage family home in Pennsylvania.
It was later discovered that Pepper had been stolen by "dog-nappers",
was bought by a Bronx hospital, and had died during an experimental
surgical procedure. On July 9, 1965, Representative Joseph Y. Resnick
introduced H.R. 9743 into the House of Representatives, a bill that
would require dog and cat dealers, as well as the laboratories that
purchased the animals to be licensed and inspected by the USDA. A
hearing was held on September 30, 1965, and similar legislation was
sponsored in the Senate. The (Laboratory) Animal Welfare Act of 1966 was signed into law on August 24, 1966.
In 1966, Life magazine published an article documenting the housing conditions at animal dealer facilities.
The article, titled "Concentration Camp for Dogs", featured pictures of
skeletal dogs and described the neglectful conditions that the
investigative journalists and Maryland State Police found at a Maryland
dog dealer's farm. As a result of these articles, the public lobbied
Congress to pass a Federal law that would institute animal housing and
care standards.
There was increasing evidence that dogs and cats kept as pets
were being stolen by dealers, taken across states lines, and resold to
research institutions for scientific experimentation. Many sportsmen supported national legislation because it was their hunting dogs that often went missing.
The Horse Protection Act
(public Law 91-929) was passed in 1970 and protected horses against
various damaging practices designed to produce aesthetically appealing
horses, for example, "soring" the ankles to produce a high-stepping
gait. Marine mammals as a class (whales, porpoises, seals, and polar bears), for the most part, found protection under the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(Public Law 92-522) of 1972, which prevented extinction or depletion
from indiscriminate taking, including hunting, harassment, capture, and
killing (permitted takings, including for subsistence and research
purposes, must be accomplished humanely, with "the least degree of pain
and suffering practicable to the animal"). Endangered and threatened
species were also protected with the passage in 1973 of the Endangered Species Act
(Public Law 93-205), which made illegal the purchase, sale, or
transportation in interstate or foreign commerce any species found to be
endangered, and also closely regulated commerce in any species
threatened with extinction.
Amendments
The Act was amended eight times (1970, 1976, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2013) and is enforced by the USDA through the Animal Care division of APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service).
In 1970, the Act was amended (Pub.L. 91–579) to include all
warm-blooded animals used in testing, experimentation, exhibition, as
pets or sold as pets.
Certain cases could be exempted from such definitions unless they used
live animal in substantial numbers. Fines were increased for those
interfering with an investigation of an experimentation facility. Those
found guilty of assaulting or killing Federal inspectors responsible for
such tasks also faced additional sentencing. Basic treatment was
expanded to include humane and reasonable handling of the animals, and
required shelter from weather and temperature extremes, proper
ventilation, adequate housing, decent sanitation, and adequate
veterinary care at all stages in the animal's life.
The Act was further amended in 1976 (Pub.L. 94–279) to further
regulate animal treatment during transportation. Animals were to be kept
in adequately sized traveling accommodations, and to be kept from
fighting amongst one another. The definition of animal was broadened to
rid the law of the possible interpretation that dogs used for hunting,
security, and breeding were not included in its protection.
The Act was amended in the Food Security Act of 1985 (Pub.L. 99–198).
Under this law, it was not permitted for a single animal to be used in
more than one major operative experiment, from which it was also allowed
adequate time to recover as guided by a veterinarian with proper
training. This amendment directed new minimum standards for the
handling, housing, sanitation, feeding and other care practices. The
psychological well-being of the animals was now taken into consideration
as it never had been before. One provision that stood out at this time
was the requirement for the exercise of dogs and psychological well
being of primates. The law also requires research facilities to be able
to describe painful practices as well as implement practices that
minimize pain and stress to the animals. Another requirement made under
this law was for each research facility to establish an Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to oversee research proposals and
provide oversight of animal experimentation. The Food Security Act also established an information center at the National Agricultural Library, the Animal Welfare Information Center, to assist researchers in searching scientific literature for alternatives to animal use.
In 1990, The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 was amended by adding SEC. 2503, Protection of Pets (Pub.L. 101–624).
This section established a holding period for cats and dogs of not less
than 5 days at a holding facility of the dealer, so that the animal
could be adopted or recovered by their original owner before it is sold.
The provision applies to operated pounds, research facilities, or
private organizations. It also requires that a written certification
with the animal's background be provided to the recipient. Details
should include a description of the animal, history of the animal's
transfers, records, and modifications, and signatures from the dealer
and recipient. Repeat violations of this section are subject to a $5000
fine per cat or dog acquired or sold. Three or more violations could
result in the dealer's license being permanently revoked.
Prior to the Animal Welfare Act, animal welfare law was largely reactive
and action could only be taken once an animal had suffered
unnecessarily.
In 2002, Title X, Subtitle D, of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act
amended the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 by changing the definition of
animal (Pub.L. 107–171). Section 2 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C.
2132) was amended by changing exclusions specifically to birds, rats of
the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus to use in research. Additionally, this law expanded the regulation of animal fighting,
making it a misdemeanor to ship, exhibit, or sponsor birds for fighting
purposes. Penalties under this section could result in a fine of
$15000.
In 2007, The Animal Fighting Prohibition Reinforcement Act
amended section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act (Pub.L. 110–22). Its
purpose was to strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting, and
under the provisions of the AWA it made animal fighting a felony with
punishment of up to 3 years in prison under Title 18 of the U.S Code(
Crimes and Criminal Procedure). The act also made it a felony to trade,
have knives, gaffs or other objects that aided in use of animal
fighting. Also, these provisions were designed to close the loopholes
from the 2002 amendments.
In 2008, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008,
added several new amendments to the Animal Welfare Act (Pub.L.
110–246). It added more prohibitions to training, possessing and
advertising animals or sharp objects for use in animal fighting. The
penalties for these crimes were raised to 3–5 years imprisonment. The
2008 amendments also prohibited imports for resale of dogs unless they
were at least six months of age, have all necessary vaccinations and are
in good health. Furthermore, fines for violations of the Animal Welfare
Act increased from $2500 to $10,000 per violation, per animal and per
day.
In 2013, "An Act to Amend the Animal Welfare Act to Modify the Definition of 'Exhibitor'," added an
owner of a common, domesticated household pet who derives less than a
substantial portion of income from a nonprimary source (as determined by
the Secretary) for exhibiting an animal that exclusively resides at the
residence of the pet owner, after stores, in section 2(h).
The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA)
requires businesses that either buy or sell warmblooded animals,
exhibit them to the public, transport them commercially, or use them in
teaching or experiments, must be licensed or registered. Failure to
become licensed or registered is a punishable violation of the Animal
Welfare Act. Depending on the basis of the business, the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection services (APHIS)
determines whether the business should be licensed, registered, or
both. Business owners are responsible for knowing about registration and
licensing requirements.
Businesses and activities covered
Federal
animal care standards mainly cover humane handling, housing, space,
feeding, sanitation, shelter from extremes of weather, adequate
veterinary care, transportation, and handling in transit. The same
standards of animal care apply to all registered and licensed
businesses. To make sure the regulation and standards are followed,
APHIS field inspectors make periodic unannounced visits to all locations
where animals are held.
If any facility does not meet federal standards when they apply
for a license or registration, they can receive up to three inspections
within a period 90 days to correct any problems. The licenses are not
issued until all problems are corrected. The facilities have to wait for
a minimum of 6 months before reapplying for a license if they do not
pass inspection within the 90-day period. Legal action results if the
facility operates a regulated business without a license.
Under the Animal Welfare Act, exhibitors and animal dealers must
obtain a license, for which an annual fee is charged. APHIS does not
issue a license until it inspects the facility and finds it to be in
compliance with its regulations. Research facilities and animal
transporters do not need a license, but must be registered with APHIS.
Animal dealers
Dealers that breed animals for sale to pet stores must be in compliance with AWA regulations.
Animal dealers are people who sell animals bred at their facility.
Examples of dealers include pet and laboratory animal breeders and
brokers, auction operators, and everyone who sells exotic or wild
animals, or dead animals or their parts. They must be licensed under
class "A" or "B". Class A licenses are given to breeders who deal only
in animals they breed and raise. Class B licenses are given to people
who buy and sell animals they did not raise. Exempt from the law and
regulations are retail pet stores, those who sell pets directly to pet
owners, hobby breeders, animal shelters, and boarding kennels. The
annual license fee for licensed animal dealers (Class A or B) ranges
from $30 to $750, depending on the annual dollar volume of business in
regulated animals. An annual application fee of $10 must be paid with
all yearly license renewal applications.
Exhibitors
An
exhibitor is a business or a person that displays animals to the
public. Exhibitors must be licensed by APHIS under Class C licenses.
Exhibitors include zoos, educational displays or exhibits, marine mammal shows, circuses, carnivals, and animal acts. The law and regulations exempt agricultural shows and fairs, horse shows, pet shows, game preserves,
hunting events, and private collectors who do not exhibit. The annual
license fee for Class C licensed animal exhibitors ranges from $30 to
$300, depending on the number of regulated animals held. In addition to
the annual license fee, an application fee of $10 must be paid with all
yearly license renewal applications.
Transporters
A
person with a commercial business that moves animals from one location
to another is considered a transporter under the AWA. Animal
transporters must be registered, including general carriers such as
trucking companies, airlines, and railroads. Businesses that contract to
transport animals for compensation are considered dealers and must have
licenses.
Research facilities
Humane care and treatment of research animals are important aspects of the AWA.
Research facilities are those that use animals for teaching,
experimentation, surgery, or testing purposes. Research facilities must
be registered, and include state and local government-run research
laboratories, universities, and colleges, diagnostic laboratories, and
pharmaceutical firms. Federal facilities, elementary and secondary
schools, and agricultural research institutions are among those exempt
from registration.
Exclusions
There
is much debate as to the actual definition of an animal, but for the
purpose of AWA, birds, rats, mice, horses, and other farm animals were
excluded from its protection as initially legislated in 1966.
The most commonly used animals in laboratories are rats and mice, and
therefore they were not regulated in the original law. Purpose-bred rats
of the genus Rattus and mice of the genus Mus are not covered by the
Animal Welfare Act, but are regulated under PHS policy which applies
only to research receiving federal funding from certain federal
agencies, including the NIH. These are not federal laws but conditions
of funding.
Certain conditions are also excluded from coverage by AWA.
Animals that are killed prior to usage, such as frogs used in a biology
class, are also not included, so long as they are killed humanely.
Facilities that do not receive Federal funding were also not covered by the Act.
In January 2015 Michael Moss of The New York Times published an exposé on the alleged mistreatment of research animals at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center.
Among other things, Moss's article asserted that the center had no
veterinarians on its staff, with surgical procedures done by workers
without veterinary degrees or licenses; and that the Act contains an
exemption for farm animals used in agricultural research, which
exemption covers the USMARC's activities.
Enforcement
Investigations and inspections
APHIS's
Animal Care (AC) program oversees the AWA, which includes about 10,300
facilities. These AC officials make unannounced facility inspections to
ensure they are in compliance with regulations, and to identify
unregistered facilities. They make such inspections or investigations of
any dealer, exhibitor, research facility, handler, carrier, or operator
of an auction sale, to determine if they have violated provisions under
this chapter. Under the Animal Welfare Act, these facilities are to be
inspected at least once a year, with follow-up inspections conducted
until deficiencies are corrected. If deficiencies are found, failure to
correct them could result in fines, cease and desist orders, suspensions, confiscation of animals and loss of licensing. There are also penalties for interfering with inspections.
Violations
If the Secretary of Agriculture
has any reason to suspect that any licensed dealer, carrier, or
operator violates any provision of the AWA, then their license may be
suspended temporarily, but not to exceed 21 days, until a hearing is
held. After the hearing, the license may be revoked if the violation is
determined to have occurred.
Any dealer, carrier, exhibitor, handler, operator, or research
facility that violates any provision of the AWA may be assessed a
penalty of no more than $10,000 for each violation. Any person who
knowingly fails to obey an order made by the Secretary of Agriculture is
subject to a civil penalty of $1,500 for each offense.
Any dealer, exhibitor, carrier, handler, auction operator, or
research facility may seek a review of an order within 60 days at the United States Court of Appeals.
Incidents
The 2006 HBO film Dealing Dogs documents an undercover operation targeting a "Class B"
kennel which treated dogs inhumanely, violating the Act. The owners of
the kennel were fined over $200,000 as the result of a USDA suit.
In 2011, the Dollarhite family of Nixa, Missouri, were fined
$90,643 for selling several thousand dollars worth of rabbits without a
license, which is required of people selling more than $500 worth of
rabbits sold as pets. The USDA has increased enforcement of the law in
recent years, targeting magicians who perform magic tricks with rabbits.
In 2013, the USDA found that China Southern Airlines
had improperly transported over a thousand monkeys without federal
permission in insecure crates. The airline was forced to pay $26,038
worth of fines after over a dozen of them died.
Court cases
International Primate Protection League v. Institute for Behavioral Research
In 1981, a graduate student and PETA member, Alex Pacheco, volunteered at a research center in Silver Spring, Maryland. At the time, Edward Taub
was conducting research on monkeys for neuroplasticity purposes at that
center. While Alex spent time at the research center, he noticed the
inhumane treatment of the monkeys under the AWA and reported it to the
police. He filed suit against Edward Taub, who was researching afferent ganglia. Edward Taub was convicted of six animal cruelty charges, which were appealed in the second trial.
They proved to be significant in the understanding of the law. While
this case provided an advancement in neurology research, it was doing so
only by risking inhumane treatment of animals.
As the court wrote in its opinion:
To imply a cause of action in these plaintiffs might
entail serious consequences. It might open the use of animals in
biomedical research to the hazards and vicissitudes of courtroom
litigation. It may draw judges into the supervision and regulation of
laboratory research. It might unleash a spate of private lawsuits that
would impede advances made by medical [sic]
science in the alleviation of human suffering. To risk consequences of
this magnitude in the absence of clear direction from the Congress would
be ill-advised. In fact, we are persuaded that Congress intended that
the independence of medical [sic] research be respected and that administrative enforcement govern the Animal Welfare Act.
Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Glickman
In 1998, a court case was argued on behalf of the Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Daniel Glickman (then the Secretary of Agriculture),
for the inhumane treatment of a primate named Barney at a Long Island
game farm park and zoo. A man named Marc Jurnove had visited this park
on a regular basis and noticed this primate had been neglected. He filed
suit against the USDA for failing to meet the minimum standards under
the AWA and his allegations were supported by investigations. The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit Court ruled that he had standing to sue. The merits of the case were determined by a later case: Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Glickman, 204 F.3d 229 (2001), in which the Court rejected Jurnove's argument and upheld the validity of the USDA regulations.
907 Whitehead Street, Inc. v. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
In 2012, in the case of 907 Whitehead Street, Inc. vs U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), the plaintiff challenged the jurisdiction of the USDA and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to regulate the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum as an animal exhibitor. The museum is home to dozens of polydactyl cats, the progeny of a cat that Ernest Hemingway
was given as a pet when he lived there during the 1930s. Following a
complaint by a museum visitor, the USDA visited the museum and in
October 2003, determined that the Museum was an animal exhibitor subject
to regulation under the AWA because the Museum exhibited the cats for
the cost of an admission fee, and the cats were used in promotional
advertising. Under USDA regulations, the museum is required to obtain a
USDA exhibitor's license, give each cat a tag for identification
purposes, provide additional resting surfaces within their existing
enclosures, and introduce one of several specified improvements required
to ensure the cats remain contained to the museum's grounds. The
museum challenged on several grounds the USDA's authority in the case,
noting that the Hemingway cats do not have an effect on interstate commerce sufficient to merit federal regulation. As of December 2012, the case had reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which upheld earlier district court rulings.
Public relations
The
USDA enforces the AWA and conducts regular inspections. Animal care
will perform inspections in response to public concerns for the
conditions of regulated facilities. They encourage individuals to report
unregulated facilities that may require licenses or registration. Many
state and local governments have animal welfare laws of their own.
Animal care seeks to educate the public and create a cooperative
relationship with licensed and registered entities, the animal
protection community, and other Federal and State agencies. To
accomplish this goal, Animal care conducts workshops regarding minimum
care standards as outlined in the AWA.
Proposed amendments
Many
animal welfare groups and animal activists support strengthening and
further enforcement of the act. The act is often criticized for its
exclusions of rats and mice, which are the most widely used laboratory
animals.
Although the act was amended to include all warmblooded animals in
1970, birds, mice, and rats were subsequently excluded in 2002.
Some, however, feel that additional animals that are not warmblooded,
should be included in the act's protection. Some members of Congress
have supported additional funding for enforcing the act.
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals, such as model organisms, in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system
under study. This approach can be contrasted with field studies in
which animals are observed in their natural environments or habitats.
Experimental research with animals is usually conducted in universities,
medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, defense establishments, and
commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to the
industry. The focus of animal testing varies on a continuum from pure research,
focusing on developing fundamental knowledge of an organism, to applied
research, which may focus on answering some questions of great
practical importance, such as finding a cure for a disease. Examples of applied research include testing disease treatments, breeding, defense research, and toxicology, including cosmetics testing. In education, animal testing is sometimes a component of biology or psychology courses.
Research using animal models has been central to most of the achievements of modern medicine. It has contributed most of the basic knowledge in fields such as human physiology and biochemistry, and has played significant roles in fields such as neuroscience and infectious disease. The results have included the near-eradication of polio and the development of organ transplantation, and have benefited both humans and animals. From 1910 to 1927, Thomas Hunt Morgan's work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster identified chromosomes as the vector of inheritance for genes, and Eric Kandel wrote that Morgan's discoveries "helped transform biology into an experimental science". Research in model organisms led to further medical advances, such as the production of the diphtheria antitoxin and the 1922 discovery of insulin and its use in treating diabetes, which had previously meant death. Modern general anaesthetics such as halothane were also developed through studies on model organisms, and are necessary for modern, complex surgical operations. Other 20th-century medical advances and treatments that relied on research performed in animals include organ transplant techniques, the heart-lung machine, antibiotics, and the whooping cough vaccine.
Animal testing is widely used to research human disease when human experimentation would be unfeasible or unethical. This strategy is made possible by the common descent of all living organisms, and the conservation of metabolic and developmental pathways and genetic material over the course of evolution.
Performing experiments in model organisms allows for better
understanding the disease process without the added risk of harming an
actual human. The species of the model organism is usually chosen so
that it reacts to disease or its treatment in a way that resembles human
physiology as needed. Biological activity in a model organism does not ensure an effect in humans, and care must be taken when generalizing from one organism to another.However, many drugs, treatments and cures for human diseases are developed in part with the guidance of animal models. Treatments for animal diseases have also been developed, including for rabies, anthrax, glanders, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), tuberculosis, Texas cattle fever, classical swine fever (hog cholera), heartworm, and other parasitic infections. Animal experimentation continues to be required for biomedical research, and is used with the aim of solving medical problems such as Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, many headaches, and other conditions in which there is no useful in vitro model system available.
It was estimated in 2010 that the annual use of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from tens to over 100 million. In the European Union, vertebrate species represent 93% of animals used in research, and 11.5 million animals were used there in 2011. The mouse (Mus musculus) is associated with many important biological discoveries of the 20th and 21st centuries, and by one estimate, the number of mice and rats used in the United States alone in 2001 was 80 million.
In 2013, it was reported that mammals (mice and rats), fish,
amphibians, and reptiles together accounted for over 85% of research
animals. In 2022, a law was passed in the United States that eliminated the FDA requirement that all drugs be tested on animals.
Animal testing is regulated to varying degrees in different countries.
Animal testing is regulated differently in different countries: in some
cases it is strictly controlled while others have more relaxed
regulations. There are ongoing debates about the ethics and necessity of
animal testing. Proponents argue that it has led to significant
advancements in medicine and other fields while opponents raise concerns
about cruelty towards animals and question its effectiveness. There are efforts underway to find alternatives to animal testing such as computer simulation models, organs-on-chips technology that mimics human organs for lab tests,
microdosing techniques which involve administering small doses of test
compounds to volunteers instead of animals for safety tests or drug
screenings; positron emission tomography
(PET) scans which allow scanning of the human brain without harming
humans; comparative epidemiological studies among human populations;
simulators and computer programs for teaching purposes; among others.
Definitions
The terms animal testing, animal experimentation, animal research, in vivo testing, and vivisection have similar denotations but different connotations.
Literally, "vivisection" means "live sectioning" of an animal, and
historically referred only to experiments that involved the dissection of live animals. The term is occasionally used to refer pejoratively to any experiment using living animals; for example, the Encyclopædia Britannica
defines "vivisection" as: "Operation on a living animal for
experimental rather than healing purposes; more broadly, all
experimentation on live animals", although dictionaries point out that the broader definition is "used only by people who are opposed to such work". 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".
The following text excludes as much as possible practices related to in vivoveterinary surgery, which is left to the discussion of vivisection.
The earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the Greeks in the 2nd and 4th centuries BCE. Aristotle and Erasistratus were among the first to perform experiments on living animals. Galen, a 2nd-century Roman physician, performed post-mortem dissections of pigs and goats. Avenzoar, a 12th-century Arabic physician in Moorish Spain introduced an experimental method of testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients. Discoveries in the 18th and 19th centuries included Antoine Lavoisier's use of a guinea pig in a calorimeter to prove that respiration was a form of combustion, and Louis Pasteur's demonstration of the germ theory of disease in the 1880s using anthrax in sheep. Robert Koch used animal testing of mice and guinea pigs to discover the bacteria that cause anthrax and tuberculosis. In the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov famously used dogs to describe classical conditioning.
Research using animal models has been central to most of the achievements of modern medicine. It has contributed most of the basic knowledge in fields such as human physiology and biochemistry, and has played significant roles in fields such as neuroscience and infectious disease. For example, the results have included the near-eradication of polio and the development of organ transplantation, and have benefited both humans and animals. From 1910 to 1927, Thomas Hunt Morgan's work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster identified chromosomes as the vector of inheritance for genes. Drosophila became one of the first, and for some time the most widely used, model organisms, and Eric Kandel wrote that Morgan's discoveries "helped transform biology into an experimental science". D. melanogaster
remains one of the most widely used eukaryotic model organisms. During
the same time period, studies on mouse genetics in the laboratory of William Ernest Castle in collaboration with Abbie Lathrop
led to generation of the DBA ("dilute, brown and non-agouti") inbred
mouse strain and the systematic generation of other inbred strains.
The mouse has since been used extensively as a model organism and is
associated with many important biological discoveries of the 20th and
21st centuries.
In the late 19th century, Emil von Behring isolated the diphtheria
toxin and demonstrated its effects in guinea pigs. He went on to
develop an antitoxin against diphtheria in animals and then in humans,
which resulted in the modern methods of immunization and largely ended
diphtheria as a threatening disease.
The diphtheria antitoxin is famously commemorated in the Iditarod race,
which is modeled after the delivery of antitoxin in the 1925 serum run to Nome.
The success of animal studies in producing the diphtheria antitoxin has
also been attributed as a cause for the decline of the early
20th-century opposition to animal research in the United States.
Subsequent research in model organisms led to further medical advances, such as Frederick Banting's research in dogs, which determined that the isolates of pancreatic secretion could be used to treat dogs with diabetes. This led to the 1922 discovery of insulin (with John Macleod) and its use in treating diabetes, which had previously meant death. John Cade's research in guinea pigs discovered the anticonvulsant properties of lithium salts, which revolutionized the treatment of bipolar disorder, replacing the previous treatments of lobotomy or electroconvulsive therapy. Modern general anaesthetics, such as halothane
and related compounds, were also developed through studies on model
organisms, and are necessary for modern, complex surgical operations.
In the 1940s, Jonas Salk used rhesus monkey studies to isolate the most virulent forms of the polio virus, which led to his creation of a polio vaccine.
The vaccine, which was made publicly available in 1955, reduced the
incidence of polio 15-fold in the United States over the following five
years. Albert Sabin
improved the vaccine by passing the polio virus through animal hosts,
including monkeys; the Sabin vaccine was produced for mass consumption
in 1963, and had virtually eradicated polio in the United States by
1965.
It has been estimated that developing and producing the vaccines
required the use of 100,000 rhesus monkeys, with 65 doses of vaccine
produced from each monkey. Sabin wrote in 1992, "Without the use of
animals and human beings, it would have been impossible to acquire the
important knowledge needed to prevent much suffering and premature death
not only among humans, but also among animals."
On 3 November 1957, a Soviet dog, Laika, became the first of many animals to orbit the Earth. In the 1970s, antibiotic treatments and vaccines for leprosy were developed using armadillos, then given to humans. The ability of humans to change the genetics of animals took an enormous step forward in 1974 when Rudolf Jaenisch could produce the first transgenic mammal, by integrating DNA from simians into the genome of mice. This genetic research progressed rapidly and, in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.
Other 20th-century medical advances and treatments that relied on research performed in animals include organ transplant techniques, the heart-lung machine, antibiotics. and the whooping cough vaccine. Treatments for animal diseases have also been developed, including for rabies, anthrax, glanders, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), tuberculosis, Texas cattle fever, classical swine fever (hog cholera), heartworm, and other parasitic infections. Animal experimentation continues to be required for biomedical research, and is used with the aim of solving medical problems such as Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, many headaches, and other conditions in which there is no useful in vitro model system available.
Toxicology
testing became important in the 20th century. In the 19th century, laws
regulating drugs were more relaxed. For example, in the US, the
government could only ban a drug after they had prosecuted a company for
selling products that harmed customers. However, in response to the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster
of 1937 in which the eponymous drug killed over 100 users, the US
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 Thalidomide tragedy, further laws were passed requiring safety testing on pregnant animals before a drug can be sold.
Fruit flies are an invertebrate commonly used in animal testing.
Although many more invertebrates than vertebrates are used in animal
testing, these studies are largely unregulated by law. The most
frequently used invertebrate species are Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly, and Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode 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 invertebrates offer some advantages over vertebrates in animal
testing, including their short life cycle and the ease with which large
numbers may be housed and studied. However, the lack of an adaptive immune system and their simple organs prevent worms from being used in several aspects of medical research such as vaccine development. Similarly, the fruit fly immune system differs greatly from that of humans, and diseases in insects can be different from diseases in vertebrates; however, fruit flies and waxworms can be useful in studies to identify novel virulence factors or pharmacologically active compounds.
Several invertebrate systems are considered acceptable alternatives to vertebrates in early-stage discovery screens.
Because of similarities between the innate immune system of insects and
mammals, insects can replace mammals in some types of studies. Drosophila melanogaster and the Galleria mellonella waxworm have been particularly important for analysis of virulence traits of mammalian pathogens.
Waxworms and other insects have also proven valuable for the
identification of pharmaceutical compounds with favorable
bioavailability.
The decision to adopt such models generally involves accepting a lower
degree of biological similarity with mammals for significant gains in
experimental throughput.
This rat is being deprived of rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep using a single platform ("flower pot") technique.
The water is within 1 cm of the small flower pot bottom platform where
the rat sits. The rat is able to sleep but at the onset of REM sleep
muscle tone is lost and the rat would either fall into the water only to
clamber back to the pot to avoid drowning, or its nose would become submerged into the water shocking it back to an awakened state.
In the U.S., the numbers of rats and mice used is estimated to be from 11 million to between 20 and 100 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 disease and share 95% of their genes with humans. With the advent of genetic engineering 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.
Dogs are widely used in biomedical research, testing, and education—particularly beagles,
because they are gentle and easy to handle, and to allow for
comparisons with historical data from beagles (a Reduction technique). They are used as models for human and veterinary diseases in cardiology, endocrinology, and bone and joint studies, research that tends to be highly invasive, according to the Humane Society of the United States. The most common use of dogs is in the safety assessment of new medicines
for human or veterinary use as a second species following testing in
rodents, in accordance with the regulations set out in the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use.
One of the most significant advancements in medical science involves
the use of dogs in developing the answers to insulin production in the
body for diabetics and the role of the pancreas in this process. They
found that the pancreas was responsible for producing insulin in the
body and that removal of the pancreas, resulted in the development of
diabetes in the dog. After re-injecting the pancreatic extract
(insulin), the blood glucose levels were significantly lowered.
The advancements made in this research involving the use of dogs has
resulted in a definite improvement in the quality of life for both
humans and animals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Report shows
that 60,979 dogs were used in USDA-registered facilities in 2016. In the UK, according to the UK Home Office, there were 3,847 procedures on dogs in 2017. Of the other large EU users of dogs, Germany conducted 3,976 procedures on dogs in 2016 and France conducted 4,204 procedures in 2016. In both cases this represents under 0.2% of the total number of procedures conducted on animals in the respective countries.
Zebrafish
Zebrafish are commonly used for the basic study and development of various cancers.
Used to explore the immune system and genetic strains. They are low in
cost, small size, fast reproduction rate, and able to observe cancer
cells in real time. Humans and zebrafish share neoplasm
similarities which is why they are used for research. The National
Library of Medicine shows many examples of the types of cancer zebrafish
are used in. The use of zebrafish have allowed them to find differences
between MYC-driven pre-B vs T-ALL and be exploited to discover novel
pre-B ALL therapies on acute lymphocytic leukemia.
The National Library of Medicine also explains how a neoplasm is
difficult to diagnose at an early stage. Understanding the molecular
mechanism of digestive tract tumorigenesis and searching for new
treatments is the current research. Zebrafish and humans share similar
gastric cancer cells in the gastric cancer xenotransplantation model.
This allowed researchers to find that Triphala could inhibit the growth
and metastasis of gastric cancer cells. Since zebrafish liver cancer
genes are related with humans they have become widely used in liver
cancer search, as will as many other cancers.
Zebrafish are a freshwaterfish and belong to the minnow family. They are commonly used for cancer research.
Enos, the third primate to orbit the Earth, before insertion into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule in 1961
Non-human primates (NHPs) are used in toxicology tests, studies of AIDS and hepatitis, studies of neurology, behavior and cognition, reproduction, genetics, and xenotransplantation.
They are caught in the wild or purpose-bred. In the United States and
China, most primates are domestically purpose-bred, whereas in Europe
the majority are imported purpose-bred. The European Commission reported that in 2011, 6,012 monkeys were experimented on in European laboratories. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were 71,188 monkeys in U.S. laboratories in 2016. 23,465 monkeys were imported into the U.S. in 2014 including 929 who were caught in the wild. Most of the NHPs used in experiments are macaques; but marmosets, spider monkeys, and squirrel monkeys are also used, and baboons and chimpanzees are used in the US. As of 2015, there are approximately 730 chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories.
In a survey in 2003, it was found that 89% of singly-housed primates exhibited self-injurious or abnormalstereotypyical behaviors including pacing, rocking, hair pulling, and biting among others.
The first transgenic primate was produced in 2001, with the development of a method that could introduce new genes into a rhesus macaque. This transgenic technology is now being applied in the search for a treatment for the genetic disorderHuntington's disease. Notable studies on non-human primates have been part of the polio vaccine development, and development of Deep Brain Stimulation, and their current heaviest non-toxicological use occurs in the monkey AIDS model, SIV.In 2008, a proposal to ban all primates experiments in the EU has sparked a vigorous debate.
Over 500,000 fish and 9,000 amphibians were used in the UK in 2016. The main species used is the zebrafish, Danio rerio, 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 (Draize test)
because rabbits have less tear flow than other animals, and the lack of
eye pigment in albinos make the effects easier to visualize. The
numbers of rabbits used for this purpose has fallen substantially over
the past two decades. In 1996, there were 3,693 procedures on rabbits
for eye irritation in the UK, and in 2017 this number was just 63. Rabbits are also frequently used for the production of polyclonal antibodies.
Cats are most commonly used in neurological research. In 2016, 18,898 cats were used in the United States alone, around a third of which were used in experiments which have the potential to cause "pain and/or distress"
though only 0.1% of cat experiments involved potential pain which was
not relieved by anesthetics/analgesics. In the UK, just 198 procedures
were carried out on cats in 2017. The number has been around 200 for
most of the last decade.
1some methods of testing are excluded from the ban or the laws vary within the country
The regulations that apply to animals in laboratories vary across species. In the U.S., under 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. Researchers are required to consult with the
institution's veterinarian and its Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (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. The IACUCs regulate all vertebrates in
testing at institutions receiving federal funds in the USA. Although the
Animal Welfare Act does not include purpose-bred rodents and birds,
these species are equally regulated under Public Health Service policies
that govern the IACUCs.[125][126]
The Public Health Service policy oversees the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). The CDC conducts infectious disease research on nonhuman
primates, rabbits, mice, and other animals, while FDA requirements cover
use of animals in pharmaceutical research.
Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations are enforced by the USDA, whereas
Public Health Service regulations are enforced by OLAW and in many cases
by AAALAC.
According to the 2014 U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of
the Inspector General (OIG) report—which looked at the oversight of
animal use during a three-year period—"some Institutional Animal Care
and Use Committees ...did not adequately approve, monitor, or report on
experimental procedures on animals". The OIG found that "as a result,
animals are not always receiving basic humane care and treatment and, in
some cases, pain and distress are not minimized during and after
experimental procedures". According to the report, within a three-year
period, nearly half of all American laboratories with regulated species
were cited for AWA violations relating to improper IACUC oversight. The USDA OIG made similar findings in a 2005 report.
With only a broad number of 120 inspectors, the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees more than 12,000 facilities
involved in research, exhibition, breeding, or dealing of animals.
Others have criticized the composition of IACUCs, asserting that the
committees are predominantly made up of animal researchers and
university representatives who may be biased against animal welfare
concerns.
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". A study published in Science
magazine in July 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.
Scientists in India are protesting a recent guideline issued by the University Grants Commission to ban the use of live animals in universities and laboratories.
Numbers
Accurate
global figures for animal testing are difficult to obtain; it has been
estimated that 100 million vertebrates are experimented on around the
world every year, 10–11 million of them in the EU. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics
reports that global annual estimates range from 50 to 100 million
animals. None of the figures include invertebrates such as shrimp and
fruit flies.
The USDA/APHIS has published the 2016 animal research statistics.
Overall, the number of animals (covered by the Animal Welfare Act) used
in research in the US rose 6.9% from 767,622 (2015) to 820,812 (2016). This includes both public and private institutions. By comparing with EU data, where all vertebrate species are counted, Speaking of Research estimated that around 12 million vertebrates were used in research in the US in 2016. A 2015 article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics,
argued that the use of animals in the US has dramatically increased in
recent years. Researchers found this increase is largely the result of
an increased reliance on genetically modified mice in animal studies.
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 2016, the Department of Agriculture listed 60,979 dogs, 18,898 cats,
71,188 non-human primates, 183,237 guinea pigs, 102,633 hamsters,
139,391 rabbits, 83,059 farm animals, and 161,467 other mammals, a total
of 820,812, a figure that includes all mammals except purpose-bred mice
and rats. The use of dogs and cats in research in the U.S. decreased
from 1973 to 2016 from 195,157 to 60,979, and from 66,165 to 18,898,
respectively.
In the UK, Home Office figures show that 3.79 million procedures were carried out in 2017.
2,960 procedures used non-human primates, down over 50% since 1988. A
"procedure" refers here to an experiment that might last minutes,
several months, or years. Most animals are used in only one procedure:
animals are frequently euthanized after the experiment; however death is
the endpoint of some procedures.
The procedures conducted on animals in the UK in 2017 were categorised
as: 43% (1.61 million) sub-threshold, 4% (0.14 million) non-recovery,
36% (1.35 million) mild, 15% (0.55 million) moderate, and 4% (0.14
million) severe.
A 'severe' procedure would be, for instance, any test where death is
the end-point or fatalities are expected, whereas a 'mild' procedure
would be something like a blood test or an MRI scan.
The Three Rs (3Rs) are guiding principles for more ethical use of
animals in testing. These were first described by W.M.S. Russell and
R.L. Burch in 1959. The 3Rs state:
Replacement which refers to the preferred use of non-animal
methods over animal methods whenever it is possible to achieve the same
scientific aims. These methods include computer modeling.
Reduction which 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.
Refinement which refers to methods that alleviate or minimize
potential pain, suffering or distress, and enhance animal welfare for
the animals used. These methods include non-invasive techniques.
The 3Rs have a broader scope than simply encouraging alternatives to
animal testing, but aim to improve animal welfare and scientific quality
where the use of animals can not be avoided. These 3Rs are now
implemented in many testing establishments worldwide and have been
adopted by various pieces of legislation and regulations.
Despite the widespread acceptance of the 3Rs, many
countries—including Canada, Australia, Israel, South Korea, and
Germany—have reported rising experimental use of animals in recent years
with increased use of mice and, in some cases, fish while reporting
declines in the use of cats, dogs, primates, rabbits, guinea pigs, and
hamsters. Along with other countries, China has also escalated its use
of GM animals, resulting in an increase in overall animal use.
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 and dealers like Covance and Charles River Laboratories who supply purpose-bred and wild-caught animals; businesses that trade in wild animals such as Nafovanny; and dealers who supply animals sourced from pounds, auctions, and newspaper ads. Animal shelters also supply the laboratories directly. Large centers also exist to distribute strains of genetically modified animals; the International Knockout Mouse Consortium, for example, aims to provide knockout mice for every gene in the mouse genome. A laboratory mouse cage. Mice are either bred commercially, or raised in the laboratory.
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.[160] 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.—Minnesota, Utah, Oklahoma, and Iowa—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 Union, 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 2010 the Directive was revised with EU Directive 2010/63/EU.
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, or by Covance, which is the single largest importer of primates into the U.S.
The extent to which animal testing causes pain and suffering, and the capacity of animals to experience and comprehend them, is the subject of much debate.
According to the USDA, in 2016 501,560 animals (61%) (not
including rats, mice, birds, or invertebrates) were used in procedures
that did not include more than momentary pain or distress. 247,882 (31%)
animals were used in procedures in which pain or distress was relieved
by anesthesia, while 71,370 (9%) were used in studies that would cause
pain or distress that would not be relieved.
The idea that animals might not feel pain as human beings feel it traces back to the 17th-century French philosopher, René Descartes, who argued that animals do not experience pain and suffering because they lack consciousness. Bernard Rollin of Colorado State University, 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.
However, some canine experts are stating that, while intelligence does
differ animal to animal, dogs have the intelligence of a two to
two-and-a-half-year old. This does support the idea that dogs, at the
very least, have some form of consciousness.
The ability of invertebrates to experience pain and suffering is less
clear, however, legislation in several countries (e.g. U.K., New Zealand, Norway) protects some invertebrate species if they are being used in animal testing.
In the U.S., the defining text on animal welfare regulation in animal testing is the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
This defines the parameters that govern animal testing in the U.S. 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. Currently, traumatic methods of marking laboratory animals are being replaced with non-invasive alternatives.
In 2019, Katrien Devolder and Matthias Eggel proposed gene editing research animals to remove the ability to feel pain. This would be an intermediate step towards eventually stopping all experimentation on animals and adopting alternatives. Additionally, this would not stop research animals from experiencing psychological harm.
Regulations require that scientists use as few animals as possible, especially for terminal experiments.
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 pain and suffering, not whether their death is undesirable in itself. The animals are euthanized at the end of studies for sample collection or post-mortem examination;
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 monoxide and carbon dioxide, by being placed in a chamber, or by use of a face mask, with or without prior sedation or anesthesia. Sedatives or anesthetics such as barbiturates can be given intravenously, 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 decapitation (beheading) for small rodents or rabbits. Cervical dislocation (breaking the neck or spine) may be used for birds, mice, rats, and rabbits depending on the size and weight of the animal. High-intensity microwave irradiation 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. Electrocution may be used for cattle, sheep, swine, foxes, and mink after the animals are unconscious, often by a prior electrical stun. Pithing (inserting a tool into the base of the brain) is usable on animals already unconscious. Slow or rapid freezing, or inducing air embolism are acceptable only with prior anesthesia to induce unconsciousness.
Research classification
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 forms
the necessary basis for the development of applied research, 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 slugs through to armadillos. Examples of the types of animals and experiments used in basic research include:
Studies on embryogenesis and developmental biology. Mutants are created by adding transposons into their genomes, or specific genes are deleted by gene targeting.
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 homeobox 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 and genetics. Laboratory mice, flies, fish, and worms are inbred 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 animals, such as dog or cattle breeds, for comparative
purposes. Scientists studying how animals evolve use many animal
species to see how variations in where and how an organism lives (their niche) produce adaptations in their physiology and morphology. As an example, sticklebacks
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. These may involve the use of animal models
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 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. Other models mimic complex, multifactorial diseases with genetic components, such as diabetes, or even transgenic mice that carry the same mutations that occur during the development of cancer.
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 because their natural predisposition to FIV and Feline leukemia virus. Certain breeds of dog experience narcolepsy making them the major model used to study the human condition. Armadillos and humans are among only a few animal species that naturally have leprosy; as the bacteria responsible for this disease cannot yet be grown in culture, armadillos are the primary source of bacilli used in leprosy vaccines.
Studies on induced animal models of human diseases. Here, an animal is treated so that it develops pathology and symptoms that resemble a human disease. Examples include restricting blood flow to the brain to induce stroke, or giving neurotoxins that cause damage similar to that seen in Parkinson's disease.
Much animal research into potential treatments for humans is wasted
because it is poorly conducted and not evaluated through systematic
reviews.
For example, although such models are now widely used to study
Parkinson's disease, the British anti-vivisection interest group BUAV 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 pallidotomy, new drug treatments such as levodopa, and later deep brain stimulation.
Animal testing has also included the use of placebo
testing. In these cases animals are treated with a substance that
produces no pharmacological effect, but is administered in order to
determine any biological alterations due to the experience of a
substance being administered, and the results are compared with those
obtained with an active compound.
Xenotransplantation
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 transplants.
Current research involves using primates as the recipients of organs
from pigs that have been genetically modified to reduce the primates' immune response against the pig tissue. Although transplant rejection remains a problem,
recent clinical trials that involved implanting pig insulin-secreting
cells into diabetics did reduce these people's need for insulin.
Documents released to the news media by the animal rights organization Uncaged Campaigns showed that, between 1994 and 2000, wild baboons imported to the UK from Africa by Imutran Ltd, a subsidiary of Novartis Pharma AG, in conjunction with Cambridge University and Huntingdon Life Sciences,
to be used in experiments that involved grafting pig tissues, had
serious and sometimes fatal injuries. A scandal occurred when it was
revealed that the company had communicated with the British government
in an attempt to avoid regulation.
Toxicology testing, also known as safety testing, is conducted by
pharmaceutical companies testing drugs, or by contract animal testing
facilities, such as Huntingdon Life Sciences, 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 anesthesia, because interactions between drugs can affect how animals detoxify chemicals, and may interfere with the results.
Toxicology tests are used to examine finished products such as pesticides, medications, 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 toxicity tests. The LD50
("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 population. This test was removed from OECD international guidelines in 2002, replaced by methods such as the fixed dose procedure, which use fewer animals and cause less suffering. Abbott writes that, as of 2005, "the LD50 acute toxicity test ... still
accounts for one-third of all animal [toxicity] tests worldwide".
Irritancy can be measured using the Draize test,
where a test substance is applied to an animal's eyes or skin, usually
an albino rabbit. For Draize eye testing, the test involves observing
the effects of the substance at intervals and grading any damage or
irritation, but 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 States 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 and this was adopted as the new standard in September 2009. However, the Draize test will still be used for substances that are not severe irritants.
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, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, 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 Sciences report, "critical information for assessing hazard and risk potential". Animal tests may overestimate risk, with false positive results being a particular problem, but false positives appear not to be prohibitively common.
Variability in results arises 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.
Scientists face growing pressure to move away from using
traditional animal toxicity tests to determine whether manufactured
chemicals are safe.
Among variety of approaches to toxicity evaluation the ones which have
attracted increasing interests are in vitro cell-based sensing methods
applying fluorescence.
The "Leaping Bunny" logo: Some products in Europe that are not tested on animals carry this symbol.
Cosmetics testing on animals is particularly controversial. Such
tests, which are still conducted in the U.S., involve general toxicity,
eye and skin irritancy, phototoxicity (toxicity triggered by ultraviolet light) and mutagenicity.
Cosmetics testing on animals is banned in India, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Israel and Norway while legislation in the U.S. and Brazil is currently considering similar bans.
In 2002, after 13 years of discussion, the European Union agreed to
phase in a near-total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics by
2009, and to ban all cosmetics-related animal testing. France, which is
home to the world's largest cosmetics company, L'Oreal, has protested the proposed ban by lodging a case at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, 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. In October 2014, India passed stricter laws that also ban the importation of any cosmetic products that are tested on animals.
Drug testing
Before
the early 20th century, laws regulating drugs were lax. Currently, all
new pharmaceuticals undergo rigorous animal testing before being
licensed for human use. Tests on pharmaceutical products involve:
toxicology tests, which gauge acute, sub-acute, and chronic toxicity.
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 metabolites
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, 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
It
is estimated that 20 million animals are used annually for educational
purposes in the United States including, classroom observational
exercises, dissections and live-animal surgeries. Frogs, fetal pigs, perch, cats, earthworms, grasshoppers, crayfish and starfish are commonly used in classroom dissections.
Alternatives to the use of animals in classroom dissections are widely
used, with many U.S. States and school districts mandating students be
offered the choice to not dissect. Citing the wide availability of alternatives and the decimation of local frog species, India banned dissections in 2014.
The Sonoran Arthropod Institute hosts an annual Invertebrates in
Education and Conservation Conference to discuss the use of
invertebrates in education. There also are efforts in many countries to find alternatives to using animals in education.
The NORINA database, maintained by Norecopa, lists products that may be
used as alternatives or supplements to animal use in education, and in
the training of personnel who work with animals. These include alternatives to dissection in schools. InterNICHE has a similar database and a loans system.
In November 2013, the U.S.-based company Backyard Brains released
for sale to the public what they call the "Roboroach", an "electronic
backpack" that can be attached to cockroaches. The operator is required to amputate a cockroach's antennae, use sandpaper to wear down the shell, insert a wire into the thorax, and then glue the electrodes and circuit board onto the insect's back. A mobile phone app can then be used to control it via Bluetooth.
It has been suggested that the use of such a device may be a teaching
aid that can promote interest in science. The makers of the "Roboroach"
have been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and state that the device is intended to encourage children to become interested in neuroscience.
Defense
Animals 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 device explosions on internal organs, especially the brain.
In the US military, goats are commonly used to train combat medics.
(Goats have become the main animal species used for this purpose after
the Pentagon phased out using dogs for medical training in the 1980s.) While modern mannequins
used in medical training are quite efficient in simulating the behavior
of a human body, some trainees feel that "the goat exercise provide[s] a
sense of urgency that only real life trauma can provide". Nevertheless, in 2014, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it would reduce the number of animals it uses in its training exercises by half after PETA
released video showing Guard members cutting off the limbs of
unconscious goats with tree trimmers and inflicting other injuries with a
shotgun, pistol, ax and a scalpel.
That same year, citing the availability of human simulators and other
alternatives, the Department of Defense announced it would begin
reducing the number of animals it uses in various training programs. In 2013, several Navy medical centers stopped using ferrets in intubation exercises after complaints from PETA.
Besides the United States, six out of 28 NATO countries,
including Poland and Denmark, use live animals for combat medic
training.
Ethics
Most animals are euthanized after being used in an experiment. Sources of laboratory animals
vary between countries and species; most animals are purpose-bred,
while a minority are caught in the wild or supplied by dealers who
obtain them from auctions and pounds. Supporters of the use of animals in experiments, such as the British Royal Society, argue that virtually every medical achievement in the 20th century relied on the use of animals in some way. The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the United States National Academy of Sciences
has argued that animal research cannot be replaced by even
sophisticated computer models, which are unable to deal with the
extremely complex interactions between molecules, cells, tissues,
organs, organisms and the environment. Animal rights organizations—such as PETA and BUAV—question the need for and legitimacy of animal testing, arguing that it is cruel
and poorly regulated, that medical progress is actually held back by
misleading animal models that cannot reliably predict effects in humans,
that some of the tests are outdated, that the costs outweigh the
benefits, or that animals have the intrinsic right not to be used or
harmed in experimentation.
The
moral and ethical questions raised by performing experiments on animals
are subject to debate, and viewpoints have shifted significantly over
the 20th century.
There remain disagreements about which procedures are useful for which
purposes, as well as disagreements over which ethical principles apply
to which species.
A 2015 Gallup poll found that 67% of Americans were "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about animals used in research. A Pew poll taken the same year found 50% of American adults opposed the use of animals in research.
Still, a wide range of viewpoints exist. The view that animals have moral rights (animal rights) is a philosophical position proposed by Tom Regan,
among others, who argues that animals are beings with beliefs and
desires, and as such are the "subjects of a life" with moral value and
therefore moral rights.
Regan still sees ethical differences between killing human and
non-human animals, and argues that to save the former it is permissible
to kill the latter. Likewise, a "moral dilemma" view suggests that
avoiding potential benefit to humans is unacceptable on similar grounds,
and holds the issue to be a dilemma in balancing such harm to humans to
the harm done to animals in research. In contrast, an abolitionist view in animal rights
holds that there is no moral justification for any harmful research on
animals that is not to the benefit of the individual animal. Bernard Rollin
argues that benefits to human beings cannot outweigh animal suffering,
and that human beings have no moral right to use an animal in ways that
do not benefit that individual. Donald Watson has stated that vivisection and animal experimentation "is probably the cruelest of all Man's attack on the rest of Creation." Another prominent position is that of philosopher Peter Singer,
who argues that there are no grounds to include a being's species in
considerations of whether their suffering is important in utilitarian moral considerations. Malcolm Macleod and collaborators argue that most controlled animal studies do not employ randomization, allocation concealment, and blinding
outcome assessment, and that failure to employ these features
exaggerates the apparent benefit of drugs tested in animals, leading to a
failure to translate much animal research for human benefit.
Governments such as the Netherlands and New Zealand have
responded to the public's concerns by outlawing invasive experiments on
certain classes of non-human primates, particularly the great apes. In 2015, captive chimpanzees in the U.S. were added to the Endangered Species Act adding new road blocks to those wishing to experiment on them. Similarly, citing ethical considerations and the availability of alternative research methods, the U.S. NIH announced in 2013 that it would dramatically reduce and eventually phase out experiments on chimpanzees.
The British government has required that the cost to animals in an experiment be weighed against the gain in knowledge. Some medical schools and agencies in China, Japan, and South Korea have built cenotaphs for killed animals. In Japan there are also annual memorial services (Ireisai 慰霊祭) for animals sacrificed at medical school.
Dolly the sheep: the first clone produced from the somatic cells of an adult mammal
Various specific cases of animal testing have drawn attention,
including both instances of beneficial scientific research, and
instances of alleged ethical violations by those performing the tests.
The fundamental properties of muscle physiology were determined with work done using frog muscles (including the force generating mechanism of all muscle, the length-tension relationship, and the force-velocity curve[296]), and frogs are still the preferred model organism due to the long survival of muscles in vitro and the possibility of isolating intact single-fiber preparations (not possible in other organisms). Modern physical therapy
and the understanding and treatment of muscular disorders is based on
this work and subsequent work in mice (often engineered to express
disease states such as muscular dystrophy). In February 1997 a team at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell.
Concerns have been raised over the mistreatment of primates undergoing testing. In 1985, the case of Britches, a macaque monkey at the University of California, Riverside, gained public attention. He had his eyelids sewn shut and a sonar sensor on his head as part of an experiment to test sensory substitution devices for blind people. The laboratory was raided by Animal Liberation Front in 1985, removing Britches and 466 other animals.
The National Institutes of Health conducted an eight-month
investigation and concluded, however, that no corrective action was
necessary. During the 2000s other cases have made headlines, including experiments at the University of Cambridge and Columbia University in 2002. In 2004 and 2005, undercover footage of staff of Covance's, a contract research organization that provides animal testing services, Virginia lab was shot by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA). Following release of the footage, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture fined Covance $8,720 for 16 citations, three of which
involved lab monkeys; the other citations involved administrative issues
and equipment.
Threats to researchers
Threats of violence to animal researchers are not uncommon.
In 2006, a primate researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) shut down the experiments in his lab after threats from animal
rights activists. The researcher had received a grant to use 30 macaque
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. Demonstrations were held in front of his home. A Molotov cocktail
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 Front 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.
In 1997, PETA filmed staff from Huntingdon Life Sciences, showing dogs being mistreated. The employees responsible were dismissed,
with two given community service orders and ordered to pay £250 costs,
the first lab technicians to have been prosecuted for animal cruelty in
the UK. The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
campaign used tactics ranging from non-violent protest to the alleged
firebombing of houses owned by executives associated with HLS's clients
and investors. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors US domestic extremism, has described SHAC's modus operandi
as "frankly terroristic tactics similar to those of anti-abortion
extremists", and in 2005 an official with the FBI's counter-terrorism
division referred to SHAC's activities in the United States as domestic
terrorist threats.
13 members of SHAC were jailed for between 15 months and eleven years
on charges of conspiracy to blackmail or harm HLS and its suppliers.
These attacks—as well as similar incidents that caused the Southern Poverty Law Center
to declare in 2002 that the animal rights movement had "clearly taken a
turn toward the more extreme"—prompted the US government to pass the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act 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 2005. Such legislation and the arrest and imprisonment of activists may have decreased the incidence of attacks.
Scientific criticism
Systematic reviews have pointed out that animal testing often fails to accurately mirror outcomes in humans.
For instance, a 2013 review noted that some 100 vaccines have been
shown to prevent HIV in animals, yet none of them have worked on humans. Effects seen in animals may not be replicated in humans, and vice versa. Many corticosteroids cause birth defects in animals, but not in humans. Conversely, thalidomide causes serious birth defects in humans, but not in some animals such as mice (however, it does cause birth defects in rabbits). A 2004 paper concluded that much animal research is wasted because systemic reviews are not used, and due to poor methodology.
A 2006 review found multiple studies where there were promising results
for new drugs in animals, but human clinical studies did not show the
same results. The researchers suggested that this might be due to
researcher bias, or simply because animal models do not accurately
reflect human biology. Lack of meta-reviews may be partially to blame. Poor methodology is an issue in many studies. A 2009 review noted that many animal experiments did not use blinded experiments,
a key element of many scientific studies in which researchers are not
told about the part of the study they are working on to reduce bias.
A 2021 paper found, in a sample of Open Access Alzheimer Disease
studies, that if the authors omit from the title that the experiment was
performed in mice, the News Headline follow suit, and that also the
Twitter repercussion is higher.
Activism
There are various examples of activists utilizing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests to obtain information about taxpayer funding of animal
testing. For example, the White Coat Waste Project, a group of activists
that hold that taxpayers should not have
Anti-animal testing activists protesting in the streets of London in 2009
to pay $20 billion every year for experiments on animals, highlighted that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases provided $400,000 in taxpayer money to fund experiments in which 28 beagles were infected by disease-causing parasites.
The White Coat Project found reports that said dogs taking part in the
experiments were "vocalizing in pain" after being injected with foreign
substances. Following public outcry, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made a call to action that all members of the National Institute of Health resign effective immediately and that there is a "need to find a new NIH director to replace the outgoing Francis Collins who will shut down research that violates the dignity of nonhuman animals."
Historical debate
Claude Bernard, regarded as the "prince of vivisectors", argued that experiments on animals are "entirely conclusive for the toxicology and hygiene of man".
As the experimentation on animals increased, especially the practice
of vivisection, so did criticism and controversy. In 1655, the advocate
of Galenic physiology Edmund O'Meara said that "the miserable torture of vivisection places the body in an unnatural state".
O'Meara and others argued pain could affect animal physiology during
vivisection, rendering results unreliable. There were also objections
ethically, 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 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 Bernard—who is sometimes known as the "prince of vivisectors" and the father of physiology, and 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 [. . . T]he 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 method.
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 affair
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 law was enacted in the British parliament, followed by the Cruelty to Animals Act (1876), the first law specifically aimed at regulating animal testing. The legislation was promoted by Charles Darwin, who wrote to Ray Lankester
in March 1871: "You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree
that it is justifiable for proper 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." In response to the lobbying by anti-vivisectionists, several organizations were set up in Britain to defend animal research: The Physiological Society was formed in 1876 to give physiologists "mutual benefit and protection", the Association for the Advancement of Medicine by Research was formed in 1882 and focused on policy-making, and the Research Defence Society (now Understanding Animal Research)
was formed in 1908 "to make known the facts as to experiments on
animals in this country; the immense importance to the welfare of
mankind of such experiments and the great saving of human life and
health directly attributable to them".
Opposition to the use of animals in medical research first arose in the United States during the 1860s, when Henry Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 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.
Real progress in thinking about animal rights build on the
"theory of justice" (1971) by the philosopher John Rawls and work on
ethics by philosopher Peter Singer.
Most 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 principles for the use of animals in research in most countries. Whilst replacement of animals, i.e. alternatives to animal testing, is one of the principles, their scope is much broader. 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. The scientists and engineers at Harvard's Wyss Institute
have created "organs-on-a-chip", including the "lung-on-a-chip" and
"gut-on-a-chip". Researchers at cellasys in Germany developed a
"skin-on-a-chip".
These tiny devices contain human cells in a 3-dimensional system that
mimics human organs. The chips can be used instead of animals in in vitro disease research, drug testing, and toxicity testing. Researchers have also begun using 3-D bioprinters to create human tissues for in vitro testing.
Another non-animal research method is in silico
or computer simulation and mathematical modeling which seeks to
investigate and ultimately predict toxicity and drug effects on humans
without using animals. This is done by investigating test compounds on a
molecular level using recent advances in technological capabilities
with the ultimate goal of creating treatments unique to each patient. Microdosing
is another alternative to the use of animals in experimentation.
Microdosing is a process whereby volunteers are administered a small
dose of a test compound allowing researchers to investigate its
pharmacological affects without harming the volunteers. Microdosing can
replace the use of animals in pre-clinical drug screening and can reduce
the number of animals used in safety and toxicity testing. Additional alternative methods include positron emission tomography (PET), which allows scanning of the human brainin vivo, and comparativeepidemiological studies of disease risk factors among human populations. Simulators and computer programs have also replaced the use of animals in dissection, teaching and training exercises.
Official bodies such as the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Test Methods of the European Commission, the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods in the US, ZEBET in Germany, and the Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods
(among others) also promote and disseminate the 3Rs. These bodies are
mainly driven by responding to regulatory requirements, such as
supporting the cosmetics testing ban in the EU by validating alternative
methods. The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal
Testing serves as a liaison between the European Commission and
industries. The European Consensus Platform for Alternatives coordinates efforts amongst EU member states. Academic centers also investigate alternatives, including the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at the Johns Hopkins University and the NC3Rs in the UK.
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