Latest Posts
Xenotransplantation: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?
Editorial Team April 10th, 2012 No Comments
It would appear that not a week goes by without a revolutionary scientific advance coming to the fore of societal discussion – advances that seem inevitably, as mankind’s understanding of the very building blocks of nature expands, to be accompanied by ethical questions.
In short, are scientists too concerned about what they can achieve to stop to consider whether perhaps they should? Xenotransplantation, which is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another, with the cells, tissues and organs in question referred to as xenografts or xenotransplants, is no exception, and is an innovation that is raising many novel medical, legal and ethical issues
Animal transport protests: Scientists stress welfare and risks posed to research
Editorial Team April 3rd, 2012 No Comments
In recent days, the issue of research animals transport has once again come to the fore in the UK, with increasingly vocal and heated crossfire between animal-rights activists and scientific researchers being the hallmark of the debate.
At the core of the issue is the increasing refusal, as reported in the Daily Telegraph and elsewhere, of ferry companies and airlines to carry live mice, rats and rabbits intended for scientific research, following pressure from animal-rights campaigners.
NC3RS awards herald improved cancer-chemicals tests on fewer animals
Editorial Team March 5th, 2012 1 Comment
The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) has awarded two grants totalling almost £900,000, to Brunel University’s Professor Robert Newbold and Swansea University’s Professor Gareth Jenkins, funds that are to be implemented in fundamental research to develop new testing methods, based on human-cell structures, for cancer-causing chemicals, a move that aims to reduce the number of animals used in tests in the years ahead.
The 3Rs: what is progress?
Richard Fosse February 21st, 2012 No Comments
Advances in science will present some people with new dilemmas. What if new research methods mean more primate-based studies but using fewer animals overall?
The latest trends in biopharmaceuticals will make it possible to develop fragments of antibodies – some of which can be used as new therapies – without using as many mice or rats as would have been required in the past.
The early stages of research can be done using large volumes of cell samples and with the help of computer modelling, so we essentially skip the animal-intensive phase of early research where large numbers of potential therapies would previously have been tested on rodents.
A family perspective on the animal research debate
Steffen Suchert February 8th, 2012 2 Comments
It was in 1994 when we learned from an ophthalmologist that our sons had a problem. Aged 18 and 20, and both deaf from birth, our boys were now losing their eye sight.
That’s how Usher Syndrome, a rare untreatable genetic disease leading to deaf blindness, first became a part of our lives. You can imagine the emotional rollercoaster, taking us from feeling a sense of shock and injustice to the struggle of dealing with an ‘unacceptable’ situation.
Could animal-free research deliver new medicines more efficiently?
Editorial Team January 24th, 2012 No Comments
Non-animal research methods could make drug development faster and cheaper, according to an award-winning researcher.
Professor Claus-Michael Lehr, a drug development scientist at the Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), believes new methods using cell culture instead of rats and mice will help deliver medicines more efficiently.
Can nanotechnology reduce the need for animal research
Helen Dunnett January 16th, 2012 2 Comments
The idea of using new nanotechnology breakthroughs to reduce the use of animals in laboratories has caught the imagination of European researchers.
Nanotechnology is a broad field focused on the study of things of a very small scale, and scientists hope these tiniest of techniques might add to the arsenal of non-animal research methods.
Blog 1: To demand certainty from science is to misunderstand it
Richard Fosse December 14th, 2011 2 Comments
Insisting that animals be used only when the results of experiments have guaranteed benefits for human health is to misunderstand science, even to undermine the drive for scientific knowledge.
Science is rarely as certain or a simple as some expect. It is never possible to know for sure how new knowledge will be used.
Unnecessary animal tests are replaced by alternative testing methods at Danish pharmaceutical company
Editorial Team December 9th, 2011 No Comments
Novo Nordisk recently announced the end of using living animals to test the quality of batches of medicines produced by the company.
It has taken ten years for a dedicated company task force to get rid of all redundant product control tests in living animals or to replace them with other methods of testing. Working in close collaboration with regulatory authorities around the world, the task force has replaced all obsolete tests at Novo Nordisk using live animals. The alternative testing method, the use of animal cells rather than living animals, had first to prove its efficacy before being approved by regulators.
Vaccines: ‘paradigm shift’ could slash dependence on animals
Editorial Team December 6th, 2011 No Comments
Ever since Edward Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy against smallpox using the pus from a milkmaid’s cowpox blister, animals have been central to vaccination.
That was 1796. More than 200 years later smallpox has been eradicated and deaths caused by infectious diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and polio have been slashed. The benefits for humans have been immense but this progress has come at the cost of literally millions of animals.
Can new research methods save money and animals?
Editorial Team November 25th, 2011 1 Comment
Human skin grown in a lab, computer simulations, and new approaches to vaccine quality control. These are just some of the new ideas which experts say could reduce the number of animals used in developing, approving and producing medicines.
What if I told you that these technologies already exist and the trick now is to pull them together, apply them and have them accepted by authorities? Well, it’s true.
Should we find cures for rare and genetic diseases
Helen Dunnett November 21st, 2011 No Comments
Following last month’s post, We want new medicines but at what cost?, I thought we should follow up with an expert view on life for patients suffering from rare and genetic diseases.
We caught up with Nick Meade, from the Genetic Alliance UK, while he was in Brussels. We asked Nick why expensive research is carried out to develop cures for rare diseases affecting only a very small proportion of society.
Are scientists out of step with public on animal research?
Helen Dunnett November 8th, 2011 No Comments
Animal Testing Perspectives is a platform for open debate on the use of animals in biomedical research and testing. To get an clear picture of the opponents to animal testing, I asked a journalist to take a look at their arguments.
The public is uneasy about animal testing yet research advocates shun the spotlight
Animal research has been back in the news again as controversy rages over major European laws which have been recently revamped by Brussels.
Views on what is a sentient being
Helen Dunnett November 3rd, 2011 No Comments
From all sides of the animals testing and research debate, everyone agrees that animals are sentient beings and this has been recognized in the Treaty of Amsterdam. Sentiency is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. In relation to animals, sentience implies the ability to experience pleasure or suffering.
During an interview session with brain researcher Peter Janssen, who uses macaque monkeys to understand depth perception, I asked him what it was like to perform experiments on non human primates who I would imagine have a higher level of consciousness than other animals.
We want new medicines but at what cost?
Helen Dunnett October 31st, 2011 1 Comment
October was something of a disease awareness bonanza: it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it featured World Arthritis Day and gave us the annual World Mental Health Day, amongst others.
Given my interest in issues around animal testing, these timely reminders of the burden of disease got me thinking about the contribution that research has made to human health.
