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Topic 11: Understanding Attitudes Towards the use of Animals in Science mutualistic, such as when we perform When you have completed this topic, you will: experiments to develop techniques or...

Topic 11: Understanding Attitudes Towards the use of Animals in Science mutualistic, such as when we perform When you have completed this topic, you will: experiments to develop techniques or pharmaceuticals that we then use to benefit our know that science has historically utilised large numbers of animals and domesticated animals or pets? As you can see continues to do so the situation is far from straightforward. appreciate that animal use is not It is important for us to think about the use of restricted to medical research, but is animals in science as the past few decades have pervasive in many scientific disciplines seen quite profound changes in animal use. In understand how our growing knowledge this topic we will first very briefly review the of animals has led to increased concern history and scope of animal use by scientists. about the use of animals in science We will then delve more deeply into why the use be familiar with the concept of the ‘three R’s’ and with how these principles of animals in science has become controversial attempt to regulate the use of science and how scientists are trying to address the have considered whether a similar issues raised. approach might be applied to other Animals in medical science - a very brief history areas of animal use and what implications this might have for many The use of animals in medical research dates current practices from as far back as 129‐199 AD, when Galen, a Greek medical scientist, used pigs for experiments (Gross, 1998). Since then, In our previous topic we examined the use of examples of medical therapies developed from animals as resources, primarily in the context of animal experimentation include anaesthetics our consumption of animals or their products. and analgesic agents, vaccines and antibiotics, Another way in which animals are used by surgery techniques and a host of humans is in knowledge production. Humans pharmaceuticals. A good example of the value have been studying animals and learning from of such research is the discovery of insulin. The them informally since our own evolutionary World Health Organisation estimates that 154 beginnings. More recently, however, science has million people world-wide have either type 1 or developed as a way of formally learning about 2 diabetes and approximately 66 million require the world. Animals have played an integral role regular insulin therapy. A Canadian team of in this development. Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and others are The relationships we have with animals used in credited with the discovery of insulin. The team science are complex and do not readily fall into utilised dogs for their research. the classification scheme we previously The following table lists some of the animals adopted. Is it a form of predation when we kill regularly used in science to study specific animals, not to consume them but to examine things. It gives a sense of how many animals are how their bodies work or are affected by used in science because they have unique different drugs or environmental conditions? characteristics that we can exploit to learn Are we parasitising animals when we keep them things about how the world works. in laboratories and study how they react to stimuli with which they are presented? Might some relationships with animals in science be  Organism System Studied What is Studied & Why Human Counterpart Squid Nervous system Movement of nutrients through nerve Amyotrophic lateral cells. Have the largest axons. sclerosis – “Lou Gehrig’s disease” Sea Urchins Reproduction Chromosomes and heredity. Have large Chromosomal birth gametes. defects Nudibranchs Nervous system, Chemical processes in the brain. Have Diseases affecting the endocrinology large brain cells. central nervous system Horseshoe Crab Nervous system Colour vision Colour blindness Steelhead Trout Circulatory Degenerative heart disease Degenerative heart system disease Monkfish Endocrinology Hormone production Diabetes Watanabe Rabbits Cardiology Discovered by Yoshio Watanabe to Hypercholesterolemia have extremely high blood cholesterol levels and die of heart attack by age 2 What this table does not adequately convey is and discovered fresh insects inside. It was the enormous scope of animal-based research. obvious the bats used something other than By the 1800s it was well accepted that research eyes, but at that time sonar was unknown and it using animals was a valuable way of finding out was hard to even imagine how they might be how biological organisms work. Right now, navigating. As a result of many more research is taking place in universities, medical experiments we now know that the bats made schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, sounds that were reflected back from nearby defence research labs, and commercial facilities objects, just like the sonar used underwater by that provide animal testing services to industry. marine animals. Once equipment was invented Up to 100 million vertebrate animals, and many to record the sound, it turned out to be a series more invertebrates, are used each year. Most of sharp, ultrasonic squeaking waves. The sound are either killed during the experiments or frequencies went as high as 50,000, and the subsequently euthanised (Nuffield Council on vibrations reached about 5,000 per second. Bioethics, 2005). Later experiments showed that bats are able to recognise their own sound and completely Animals in non-medical science ignore the sounds produced by other bats. Bat While medical research attracts a great deal of sonar is so sensitive that a bat can navigate attention, it is also important to realise that successfully in a dark room with fine wires animal-based experiments have contributed to stretched across it. many other forms of knowledge. As an example, think about the development of sonar systems. Fish and marine animals emit sounds in the form of barks, groans, whistles, and other similar noises that work through sonar. Some terrestrial animals also use sonar. About 200 years ago an Italian scientist discovered the ability of bats to find food and avoid objects without sight or smell. He released blind bats in a room and observed the way they avoided colliding into objects, which were directly in their path. He then let the bats fly A sea animal that uses sonar is the porpoise. It outdoors and, when they returned, he killed is so adept that it can distinguish between two them to have a look at their digestive system kinds of fish underwater. The porpoise is believed to have a sonar better than any built 18, 1963. Electrodes in the cat's brain trans- by man thus far. Researchers are still studying mitted neurological impulses to a ground ways to make their sonar as effective and station. The cat was recovered. accurate as the porpoise. Of course, in our case we have not always used our knowledge for good rather than evil. But that does not mean the knowledge itself is not worthwhile. As another example of non-medical science that has relied on the use of animals, think about the space race. Since the 1940s, space research programs have been sending animals into space to examine what the effects are of things like being beyond the planet's protective ozone layer, weightlessness and so forth. Preparations for human space activities depended absolutely High profile animals like primates, dogs, and on the ability of animals that flew during and cats are not the only ones to participate in the after the 1940s to survive. The very first space program. Frogs have been used to study primates fired to an altitude near space were the the effect of microgravity on the otolith, a monkeys Albert 1 and Albert 2. They died in sensory organ that responds to changes in an 1949 in the nose cones of captured German V- animal's orientation within Earth's gravitational 2 rockets during U.S. launch tests when they field and, in 1990, a Japanese reporter took were fired high into the atmosphere to see how green tree frogs to the Mir space station. NASA's they might withstand space conditions. The Skylab 3 flight in 1973 carried out a student monkeys survived the upward trip, but were experiment with Arabella, the orb weaving killed when parachutes failed to open and the garden spider. The spider was able to weave her nose cones impacted the ground. traditional orb web in the near-zero-gravity environment only with practice. A spider uses its own sense of its weight to determine the amount of silk to spin into the web, so gravity is important in the construction. The Skylab student experiment observed how microgravity affected Arabella's weight sensing ability. NASA also uses animals in its space shuttles. In 1985 two squirrel monkeys and 24 albino rats were housed in Spacelab, a reusable space laboratory developed for NASA shuttles by the European Space Agency. Scientists wanted to On November 3, 1957, Russia sent the first dog see if there were any physical and behaviour into space, a live stray-caught dog named Laika changes brought about by space flight. During (Barker in Russian) who was on a life-support the flight, both monkeys ate less food and they system. While other animals had made were less active in space than on the ground. suborbital flights, Laika was the first animal to One monkey adapted quickly to microgravity. go into orbit. She suffered no ill effects while The other exhibited symptoms like the condition she was alive in an orbit at an altitude near astronauts refer to as Space Adaptation 2,000 miles. Over the next 4 years Russia Syndrome. That indisposed monkey did not eat launched at least 10 dogs into space, of which and drank little water for four days of flight. On 5 died. France launched a black and white stray the fifth day, the astronauts hand-fed banana tomcat caught in the streets of Paris on October pellets to him and he began to act more like the first monkey. When Challenger returned to Earth that animals are very diverse and also very the monkeys and rats were healthy and in good sensitive. We have a better idea of how they condition. evolved, their physiology and psychology, and what they need and want. We also know about their diseases, how to diagnose, treat/cure and even prevent them, and we are slowly learning about animal emotional capabilities, including their ability to feel pain and pleasure, and their ability to desire some things and abhor others. We are learning from animals how to ensure their welfare and their survival, and this has direct implications for the future of the planet. More immediately it has direct implications for the continued use of animals in science. In 1998 the shuttle Columbia carried a Debates about animal experimentation menagerie of 170 newborn rats and pregnant If you spend ten minutes on the internet, you mice, 229 tiny swordtail fish, 135 snails, four can track down many examples of scientists who prehistoric-looking oyster toad fish, and 1,500 have done horrific things to animals. Treating cricket eggs and larvae. The animals were in the animals poorly was easy for scientists to justify Spacelab module in Columbia's cargo bay. The when it was believed that animals do not share seven astronauts studied how the very-low- our capacity for sensation and cognition, but gravity environment of near-Earth orbit this is no longer the case. As a result, the use of influenced the animals' brains and central animals in science has become very nervous systems. controversial. There are two issues that attract Engineering is another scientific discipline that attention. The first is whether research using has used animals a great deal, often to study animals really does lead to great advances in movement and other complex processes. knowledge, particularly medical knowledge. Understanding the physical and mechanical Some people say not, and that we can learn processes of movement has enabled humans to what we need in other ways and do not need to develop robots and machinery. For instance, in rely on animals. While it is true that many this video Geckos are contributing to alternatives to animal use are now available, developments in engineering. experiments using animals have led to great medical breakthroughs and important The point of sharing these examples with you is discoveries in many other fields and that they to make sure you understand that experiments could continue to do so. with animals have made an enormous contribution to the general knowledge we now rely on to navigate and maintain our planet, as well as to the medical knowledge that we use to prevent and treat illnesses in humans. Of course, nearly all of the experiments conducted each year are done to benefit humans in some way. Nonetheless, an unexpected result is that we now know a whole lot more about animals than we used to. Not so long ago most scientists An interesting issue for us to consider is believed that animals did not really feel or think whether this is sufficient to justify the use of or experience the world in similar ways to animals in experiments. This depends on many humans, but we now know this is false. We know factors, two of which are our attitudes towards animals and where they fit in our society, and relationships we now share with our animal our attitudes towards scientific progress. Think pets. While it is impossible to prove scientifically back to the Theory of Planned Behaviour that that animals experience sensations like we do, we discussed in the previous topic and reflect given that this is where all available evidence briefly on where our attitudes come from. Do points, it would be unscientific not to accept this you believe that animals are ours to use evidence, even while remaining just that little bit however we see fit? Do you feel that we should sceptical. not exploit animals at all? Or is there some kind Once we all agree (more or less) that animals are of middle ground where we can still use animals, sentient, views about animal experimentation but only if we can protect their interests? typically come down to our core values. Many scientists recognise the sentience of animals and are totally committed to animal welfare, but also value the knowledge that can be gained from animal experimentation and believe that this knowledge is sufficiently important to justify the use of animals in experiments. Other scientists believe that this is totally illogical and unethical. They argue that, if the experiments are important enough to justify the use of animals, then they are probably also important enough to justify the use of humans. Therefore, if we are So, where are we now? not prepared to do something to humans, we What do YOU believe about the use of animals also should not do it to animals. in science, and how consistent is this with beliefs expressed by the general public and with experts in the field? By completing this subject, you are becoming much more informed about animal issues than most people, so perhaps you now have a responsibility to influence what your friends and family believe. While they might be influenced by what they read on the internet or see on the news, or even by what celebrities say in glossy magazines, you are now being trained to be a critical thinker. What information do you need to be an informed citizen? Consider how you feel about this situation. The first thing you should probably consider is Research has shown that, even ten years ago, that, because of all the information about most people disagreed with the second animals that scientists have collected over the perspective and supported the first one, past hundred years or so, there is really no endorsing the use of animals in science (Knight longer any doubt that many animals are et al., 2009). The degree to which we value sentient; that they experience their lives and feel human life is simply so great that, for most things like pain, sadness and suffering. This is people, it outweighs our concerns about especially true of animals like other primates animals. This does not mean that scientists can and mammals, but it also applies to a lesser do anything they like with animals however, extent to invertebrate and simple vertebrate because the same general public that supports species. Our knowledge about these animals animal experimentation also asserts that has changed enormously, partly because of experimentation is ONLY justified if the potential science but also partly because of the closer benefits are great and if there is no alternative way to get the information we need. So, let’s end working on finding alternatives to animal this topic by exploring some general principles experimentation. An example is FRAME, an that scientists now use to regulate animal use. organisation of scientists who consider the current scale of animal experimentation to be Principles underlying the use of animals in unacceptable, while still recognising that experiments immediate abolition of all animal experiments is The main principles regulating animal use in not possible. FRAME’s long-term goal is the science came from a publication in 1959 by two total elimination of laboratory animal use, scientists called William Russell and Rex Burch. through the development, validation, and They proposed that, while it is acceptable to use acceptance of alternative methods. animals in experiments, every effort should be made to them with non-sentient alternatives, to to a minimum the number of animals used, and to experiments which use animals so that they cause minimum pain and distress. These principles, called the Three Rs, are now enshrined in legislation in many countries. What this means is that whenever scientists want to do an experiment involving animals, they first have to complete a detailed ethics application form explaining why the experiment is important Another outcome has been the development of and also showing that the Three R principles additional regulatory principles. It seems that have been considered and applied wherever once we started thinking about having to justify possible. As a result, many experiments are now our actions concerning animals, we gradually done using tissue or cell cultures rather than live began to question more and more whether animals and others are done using computer there might not be better ways of doing things. simulations. Fewer animals are used and In a book entitled, Responsible Conduct of calculations have to be presented justifying why Research, Shamoo and Resnik (2003) propose a certain number are required. Refinement is adding a fourth and fifth R. The fourth is more complicated to apply but generally relevance, which means that all researchers requires that the scientists demonstrate that wanting to use animals must show that their they have thought about how they might work will address some scientific, medical or eliminate or reduce distress, perhaps by using a social problem that is so important that it less sentient species, so rats instead of primates justifies causing harm to animals. The fifth is and insects instead of rats if possible, or by redundancy, which means that researchers need housing animals in groups, providing them with to show that any experiments they want to do toys to play with or perhaps even by using pain have not been done before or are not going to killers when possible. answer a question that has already been answered in another way. This means that In addition to these direct consequences are scientists have to do a thorough review of the many others. Governments, for example, have scientific literature before conducting any put money into finding alternatives to animal experiments. use and many scientists have chosen to work in this area. This has helped things move along far Perhaps the most profound outcome has been more rapidly than they might otherwise have a gradual change in attitudes among done. If you look on the internet, you’ll find researchers, who are generally much more dozens of research groups and organisations conscious of animal welfare now than they were previously and much more cautious about how animals are treated. Nobody thinks that the animals. Indeed, it may not even be good for regulations we have now are perfect, because animals, since those we do not use for our own they clearly are not, but it is very significant to benefit tend not to fare very well. Caring for know that we can find ways of moving forward animals responsibly while still using them for when our values and knowledge collide. There our own purposes is a valid alternative you are undoubtedly some scientists in the world might like to consider. who do not care about animals at all and who think they can do what they want, but these are now in a small minority. Most scientists really are concerned about animals. They know that they experience pain and suffering, but they also really value their experiments and the knowledge they can get from them. So, what have they done? Set up regulations to guide their behaviour and, also, put time and money into trying to implement the three Rs. Do you think that similar principles might be developed to address some of the disagreements that Summary currently characterise other forms of animal use? In this topic we considered the use of animals in knowledge production. We began by exploring how important animals have been in the development of scientific knowledge, not just in terms of medical knowledge but also in fields as diverse as sonar communications, space travel, and engineering. We then considered the fact that, as we have learned more and more about animals, so we have been forced to question some of our assumptions about their use in our experiments. We cannot use animals to study pain on the one hand, and then insist that they do not experience pain during our experiments. What this means is that we work at getting But if we acknowledge that they experience smarter about the ways we use animals. We pain, then are we justified in inflicting it for our might choose to buy animal products produced own purposes – no matter how important those in more animal-welfare-friendly ways, or eat purposes may be? meat only a few times per week rather than at every meal. Lots of people now choose to buy While some people argue that we should not free range eggs and poultry. How much do you use animals in science at all, most appear to know about where your food comes from? Is agree that at least some animal use is this something you care about? acceptable. The subtle shift in how we think about animals has had profound implications, Similarly, we could choose to have vacations however, resulting in the development of three only where we can do so without disrupting wild principles, the three Rs, that govern the use of animals. We might be more careful about how animals in science in most developed countries. we use animals in sport and make sure that the Many experiments conducted in the past would animals used to make fur coats are housed and not be permitted under these new regulations. killed humanely. Getting rid of animal In future, it is possible that further regulations consumption completely is not the only will follow, or that similar principles will be alternative for those of us concerned about applied to other areas of animal use, such as the consumption of animals for food. In later topics we will consider the ethics of animal use and how we might assess and protect the welfare of animals with which we engage. For now, the important take-home message is that there are likely to be changes in how animals are used by humans in the future, so we might as well prepare for these and consider what we might want our future with animals to look like. References and/or supplementary resources: Gross, C. (1998). Galen and the squealing pig. Neuroscientist, 4, 216-221. Knight, S., Bard, K., Vrij, A., & Brandon, D. (2010). Human rights, animal wrongs? Exploring attitudes toward animal use and possibilities for change. Society and Animals, 18, 251-272. Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2005). The ethics of research involving animals. http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/animal-research. Pifer, L., Shimizu, K., & Pifer, R. (1994). Public attitudes toward animal research: Some international comparisons. Society and Animals, 2(2), 95-113. Russell, W. & Burch, R. (1959). The principles of humane experimental technique. Methuen. Shamoo, A. E., & Resnik, D. B. (2003). Responsible conduct of research. Oxford University Press. Singer, P., & Mason, J. (2006). Eating: What we eat and why it matters. Arrow.