The use of animals in medical research
1 In basic scientific research, where the object is to understand how, say, the brain works rather than to develop a drug to treat brain disease, the whole animal is often necessarily the object of study. Indeed, in some cases, scientific advances are making animal tests more valuable, rather than less. Genetic-modification techniques mean that mice and rats can be remodelled to make them exhibit illnesses that they would not normally suffer from. Also, genes for human proteins can be added to them, so that animal tests will more closely mimic human responses. This offers the opportunity to understand human diseases better, and to screen treatments before human trials begin. However, the very creation of these mutants counts as an animal experiment in its own right, so the number of experiments is increasing once again.
2 What is bad news for rodents, though, could be good news for primates. Apes and monkeys belong to the same group of mammals as humans, and are thus seen as the best subjects for certain sorts of experiment. To the extent that rodents can be "humanised", the number of primate experiments might be reduced. Some people, of course, would like to see them eliminated altogether, regardless of the effect on useful research. On June 6th the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, an animal-rights group, called for the use of primates in research to be banned. For great apes, this has already happened. Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden have ended experiments on chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orang-utans. Experiments on monkeys, though, are still permitted. And some countries have not banned experiments on apes. In America, for example, about 1,000 chimpanzees a year are used in research.
3 This is a difficult area. Great apes are man’s closest relatives, having parted company from the human family tree only a few million years ago. Hence it can be (and is) argued that they are indispensable for certain sorts of research. There has been doubt cast on the claim that apes are used only for work of vital importance to humanity. Some scientific papers published do not seem to bear out the assertion that findings were entirely dependent on the use of animals. Animal experiments are needed for the advance of medical science, not to mention people’s safety. But if scientists are to keep the sympathy of the public, this area needs to be clarified.