The Importance of Animal Experimentation for Safety and Biomedical Research

by S. Garattini (Editor), D.W. van Bekkum (Editor)

Overview

Scientists are coming under increasing pressure from activist groups to stop animal experimentation, branded as cruel and unnecessary for improving human health. This attitude, however, stems from an unrealistic evaluation of the situation and distorted information about present scientific knowledge. There is no question that most medical progress - perhaps all, in fac- has been attained through knowledge derived initially from experiments in various animal species. There is practically no way of replacing animals in these investigations and so-called 'alternative methods' are in reality merely complementary. Tissue cultures, cell, microorganisms, enzymes, membranes, mathematical models - all are useful for preliminary screening tests and for testing hypotheses, but the complexity of a living organism is such that in vivo studies are essential before any test can responsibly be made in man. This book presents the proceedings of an international symposium organized in Strasbourg (October 24-25, 1988), with the aim of assessing present-day requirements as regards animal experimentation in research related to major medical and toxicological problems still awaiting solutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792305149
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	03/31/1990
Edition description:	1990
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

The necessity of animal experimentation.- Ethical and Legal Aspects.- Animal experimentation defended.- The ethics of animal use in biomedicine.- Legal and political problems of animal experimentation, the ‘Swiss battle’.- Experimentation and the law.- Experimentation on animals: animals as machines and animals as fetishes.- Recent Progress of Medicine Requiring the Use of Animals.- The role of animal experiments in pharmacological brain research.- Regeneration of the nervous system.- Endocrine glands, neuroendocrinology and animal experimentation.- Laboratory animals and cardiovascular pathology: means for better use.- The importance of animal models for hypertension research.- Animal experiments and recent progress in thrombosis research.- Models of human renal disease.- The necessity of animal experimentation in tumor immunology.- The use of animals in cancer chemotherapy.- The use of experimental animals in transplantation research.- Animal models for AIDS research.- The need for animal experimentation in drug and vaccine development against tropical diseases.- Use of Animals for Safety Reasons.- Toxicology: role of in vivo studies in establishing mcchanisms of toxicity.- Necessity of animal experiments for the safety evaluation and necessary consequences for public health.- The necessity of animal testing for safety evaluation and medical progress in reproductive biology and toxicology.- The need for animal experimentation in studying the carcinogenic risk of substances.- The Future of Animal Research.- Transgenic animals for human diseases and gene therapy.- Recent progress toward reducing the use of animal experimentation in biomedical research.- Animal use in drug research.

Editorial Reviews

‘This book should be read by all medical scientists and practising doctors, and also by any intelligent layman who wishes to be informed on an increasingly contentious issue. The book is properly and nicely printed ...'
Adverse Drug Reactions, 9/3, 1990

From the Publisher