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Asked by billy to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 17 Mar 2011 in Categories: General.
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Jayne Charnock answered on 15 Mar 2011:
Hi Billy,
No, I dont think it is ideal, but unfortunately its the only option we have at present. I would love to see a day when we dont need to use them and there are lots of scientists working on ways towards that, particularly those that work on stem cells. At the moment animals are essential to my work- i do alot of work ‘in vitro’ i.e. in the lab with cells, but there are some experiments that require the whole living organism, so I use mice. I make sure i am as kind to them as possible and they do not suffer in any way- it simply would not be allowed.
How do you feel about animal testing?
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Sharon Sneddon answered on 15 Mar 2011:
Hi Billy,
In this country, animal research is really tightly regulated and scientists have to prove that they can work safely on animals without causing them any pain or suffering. The experiments that can be carried out are also regulated and you need to get permission from the Home Office before you do anything. The animals are really well looked after , they have lots of food and drink and even toys, infact laboratory animals are often better looked after than some pets.
All new drugs and treatments have to be tested on animals before it is tested on humans, and although lots of people work hard to create alternatives, there is still a need to use animals in scientific research.The stem cells that I work on are a good alternative, we can test out drugs and see how they affect the cells, before we would try it in an animal, and then a human, that way, scientists are constantly reducing the number of animals used.
I don’t believe that animals should be used unless there is no other alternative, and that the animals are treated with respect and kindness, however they are an essential part of research! They should also never be used to test cosmetics or other non essential things.
What do you think.
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James Chan answered on 16 Mar 2011:
Hi billy,
thanks for your question. It’s an important one.
When I first started out, I thought this was all a bit cruel.. But what I think persuaded me is that you have to remember why we are doing this. We are hoping to help the thousands and millions of people around the world to be able to walk or work again. There are many people whose bones do not heal properly and may need to have the limbs chopped off or have limbs that are forever painful. So I think it’s a worthwhile project. the reason we test this on animals is because we need to try out our drugs and chemicals otherwise we’d be giving them to real people without really knowing what they’d do! They may be make the patient sicker, for all we know! The reason we use mice is because their genetic makeup is very similar to ours and so if our drugs work in them, we can be pretty confident they’d work in humans too.Also, we make every effort to make sure the mice do NOT suffer! They do not actually feel any pain when I do the operation. I put them to sleep first, like I would to a normal person undergoing an operation, so that they wouldn’t feel a thing. Then I do the operation. I actually fix the broken bones so this takes away a lot of the pain, and then I give them a really strong pain killer in the nerve so that when they wake up, they do not feel any pain at all, and I can tell this because I can do different tests to make sure they are comfortable and in fact, they run around straight away when they wake up. If they were in pain, they normally just sit around and not want to disturb the broken leg. so we are not that cruel. The government has a whole load of rules to make sure we are kind to the animals otherwise we could be thrown into jail! So we have to make sure we treat them with respect. I know it may still seem cruel, but I think it’s important that we know what we’re doing before we do things on humans! I wouldn’t like my relatives, for instance, to have untested drugs used on them… what do you reckon?
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Emma King answered on 17 Mar 2011:
Hi Billy, I think testing on animals is ok because there is often no other way that we can check that drugs and techniques are effective and safe to use on humans. It’s also the law that a certain amount of animals tests are carried out before we can start trials on humans. The use of animals is very strictly regulated by the Home Office to make sure the animals are well looked after and to prevent unnecessary experiments. I we can find an alternative way to test things then I would prefer animals were not used, but at the moment it’s necessary.
Comments
billy commented on :
I think that testing on animals is ok in some situations like drugs and healing the bones and things like that, that could help someones life be better but i think on the other hand if its cosmetics and shampoos and things like that is cruel because it is unessasery to test it on them.
cheekymonkey1 commented on :
so do i, i dont think its suitable to use animals to test on!
Emma commented on :
Hi guys, thanks for your comments! Most cosmetics are not tested on animals any more because people disagree with it – and I think that’s a good thing. The problem comes when there is a fine line between what is a cosmetic and what is a treatment – so eye drops and things might have to be tested on animals because it’s the law (I’m not sure that’s an actual example! Just one I could think of). Stem cells are helping here too, there are researchers that are trying to grow corneas from human cells so that we don’t have to test products on animals’ eyes – I think that’s a good thing if it works!
James commented on :
You are absolutely entitled to the opinion that animal experimentation is not nice and I don’t disagree. I am glad you have an opinion about this. But let me push you a little bit. How about if I were to say that if we didn’t do animal testing, a lot of the medications we have to treat people would not be available? Lots of people’d probably not be around now. In some occasions, it may be possible to test drugs without using animals, but in most situations, animal testing is the only choice we have… I agree, it’s very difficult.