• Question: do you harm animals in your work

    Asked by geoff to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hi geoff,

      I don’t directly, but a number of people I work with use animals in their studies.

      This is a tough issue, and I often feel uneasy about using animals for research. But in the area I work in, if we are to prevent people being harmed, there comes a point where we can’t go any further with the science without using live animals in some way.

      That said, there are important movements toward minimizing the use of animals in research, developing alternative tests that don’t use animals and, where animals are necessary, treating them as humanely as possible.

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hi geoff.

      I hope you don’t mind if I use a bit of an answer from a similar question here – I’ll expand on it.
      We work with mice in our group, as do other groups in the institute.

      Because we work on cancer and, specifically, blood vessel growth (which is something we don’t really understand fully yet), we need a whole-organism system to study it in. We’re not just interested in what goes on inside cells (in which case we could get away with using cells in the lab by themselves) but how different cells interact with each other – that involves blood, immune systems, interacting organs – all kinds of stuff we a) don’t completely understand and b) can’t model on computers (yet).

      Our institute is headed by an ex-veterinary scientist, who really makes sure (as well as government guidelines that exist) all our experiments are necessary and do not cause unnecessary suffering. We will always end experiments at times that ensure minimal suffering and if any mice are sick they are removed from the colony, checked by the vet, helped if they can be or humanely euthanised if necessary (like we’ve had to do in our family for some of our pets in the past, and it is always sad).

      What is important to realise is that scientists aren’t heartless people (as I hope everyone will notice over the course of this programme) and more often than not we’re in science *because* of our respect for life. That includes other animals.

      I don’t *like* working with the mice and will be happy when our technology has advanced so much that we no longer need them, but right now it’s not there yet. I just know that, when faced with loved ones dying (which, in fact, I am but I won’t get into it now) I could not turn away from them to save some cages of lab animals and I think most people, if they were given such a choice, would do the same.

      So, it’s a kind of cost-benefit analysis.
      I would never ever support the use of animals in trivial studies, for example their use by cosmetic companies or other non-medical things. I and everyone who works on animals has to be certified and no one who abuses animals would ever be allowed to work with them; stories from vocal anti-vivisectionists are often completely falsified or at least extremely exaggerated, or very old and therefore not happening in research today.

      It is a difficult issue and we tend to avoid talking about it in public because there have been many terrorist campaigns against researchers and anyone related to animal research so a lot of people are scared of becoming targets, though I think the public would probably be a lot more understanding if they knew more about the situation – I’d be interested in your thoughts too.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      We’ve done this one alreay geoff. Can you search through the questions to find it?

    • Photo: Emma Pilgrim

      Emma Pilgrim answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      No

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hi geoff. No I don’t harm animals in my work…we do have the odd grazing cattle and goats to keep the grass and weeds down so that we can promote the right types of plants to grow to attract butterflies, birds and bats, but we have local environmental protection officers that manage them:).

Comments

  • Photo: cheesyscience

    cheesyscience commented on :

    I agree with Andrew . Using animals for everything and in a unhumain way is wrong, but for some things I feel that animals should be used if they are going to save more lives. I know that some people may not agree with me but this is my opinon on the matter.