The Ethics of Animal Experimentation: A Balanced Perspective

1. Do we have the right to perform experiments on animals? Barbara Malinowska Department of Experimental Physiology and Pathophysiology Medical University of Białystok Poland

2. Galen of Pergamon father of experimental physiology “Vivisectionists, who use living animals for their experiments,certainly act cruelly, although their aim is praiseworthy, and they can justify their cruelty, since animals must be regarded as man’s instruments; 1846 ether R. Koch Franco N.: Animal experiments in biomedical research: A historical perspective. Animals 2013,3,238.

4. Luxemburg - 32% Switzerland – 30% Estonia – 81% Denmark – 78% Lithuania – 78% Germany – 61%;23% Poland – 69%;13%

5. Animal rights activists NO! • it causes suffering to animals; • the benefits to human beings are not proven; • experiments violate the rights of animals; • any benefits to human beings that animal testing does provide could be produced in other ways; • animals surely deserve to live their lives.

6. YES! ANIMAL RESEARCH SAVES LIVES SUFFERING DURING EXPERIMENTS IS MINIMIZED!!!

7. ANIMAL RESEARCH HELPS ANIMALS TOO Veterinary medicine and animal testing

8. mice and men are around 99% genetically similar heart human pig

9. Animals are used to: • understand how diseases affect living tissue • develop and test treatmentsfor human andanimals • train future health-care professionals

10. RESULTSOF EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS

11. TREATMENT FOR RABIES (DOGS, RABBITS);

12. LEPROSY RICKETS RUBELLA DIPHTHERIA • treatment forRICKETS (dogs); LEPROSY (monkeys, armadillos); etc. • prevention of DIPHTHERIA (horses); POLIO (rabbits); RUBELLA (monkeys) POLIO

13. discovery of INSULIN (dogs); MODERN ANAESTHESIA (dogs); DNA (mice & rats) • development of laparoscopic surgical techniques (pigs); open heart surgery (dogs);

14. Prof. Geoffrey Raisman Dr. Paweł Tabakow Darek Fidyk Repair of spinal cord injuryby transplantationof olfactory ensheathing cells. Paralysed man walks after spinal research breakthrough 2014

15. Of the 103 NOBEL PRIZESin physiology or medicinegiven since 1901, on 83 occasions work conducted on vetrabrate species (other than human) was awarded Franco N.: Animal experiments in biomedical research: A historical perspective. Animals 2013,3,238. 2014 May-Britt Moser, Edvard Moser, and their rats that they use in their groundbreaking neuroscience research.

16. EDUCATION

17. Virtual frog and virtual scalpel animal section on-line

18. Good science and good animal care go hand-in-hand • Good science requires a good animal care. • Animals that are in poor condition, discomfort or pain are poor research subjects. • Animal well-being supports the integrityof the research.

19. We seek a cure for diseases Only clear regulations and policiescan reconcile both sides and help to ensure the human treatment of animals They see a rat in a cage Kehinde EO, Med Princ Pract. 2013;22 Suppl 1:52-61

20. REGULATIONS OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION Animal Experiments Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes

21. Animal Experiments Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes „It is essential, both on moral and scientific grounds, to ensure that each use of an animal is carefully evalueated as to the scientific or educational validity, usefulness and relevance of the expected results of that use” „The likely harm to the animal should be balanced against the expected benefits of the project”

22. National Ethics Committee for Experiments on Animals Local Ethics Committees for Experiments on Animals

23. YES! 2005: 51%  YES 2015: 2/3  YES

24. The 3 R’sprinciples Rex LeonardBurch. William Moy StrattonRussell and 1959 Replacement Reduction Refinement

25. Replacement • computer-based systems & mathematical modelling; • cell, tissue and organ cultures; • use of lower organisms (bacteria and fungi) • physico-chemical techniques; e.g., the commercial test system EYTEX can predict whether a chemical will irritate the eyes,

26. Minimizing the number of animals used in experimentsby: improving experimental and data analysis techniques; information (to reduce unnecessary duplication of animal work); performing pilot studies to determine some of the potential problems in an experiment before numerous animals are used; gathering a maximum amount of information from each animal, using the appropriate species of animal so that useful data are collected Reduction

27. improving animal welfare in laboratories; refining experimental protocols to minimize pain or distress whenever possible.  Refinement

28. Local Ethics Committees for Experiments on Animals • determination of the level of severity; • consideration of humane endpoints; • determination of the indispensability • of the experimental proposal; • classification into applied or basic research; • determination of the probability of success • cost-benefit analysis

29. 1. Determination of the level of severity • non-recovery (anaesthesia); • mild (short-term mild pain) • moderate; • severe

30. A human endpoint It can be defined as the point at which an experimental animal's pain and/or distress isterminated, minimized or reduced, by taking action such as euthanasia the animal humanely, terminating a painful procedure, or giving treatmentto relieve pain and/or distress.

31. Determination of the indispensability of the experimental proposal There are no alternative ways!

32. Classification into applied or basic research

33. 5. Determination of the probability of success. 6. Cost-benefit analysis - pain, - suffering - distress Potential benefits of experiments on animals to humans, other animals and enviroment Rollin B.: Animal research: a moral science. EMBO reports, 2007;8:521

34. Local Ethics Committees for Experiments on Animals YES! Experimentson animals Experimentson animals Experiments on animals Non-technical report for the general public

35. Using animals for research activities is a privilege, not (and) a right! It is important to keep focusing on the continuous improvement of the wellbeing of laboratory animals, as well as further development ofreplacement alternatives and regulations for animal experiments.

36. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!