Research with animals

Themes

Research with animals

What is this about?

The basic tenet of animal research is that studying the disease in animals, due to their likeness to humans, can help patients and health research in general. Therefore, animal research in such a context is considered beneficial to human beings and that is the reason why it’s considered to be ethically justified. This does not mean that anything is allowed, and avoiding unnecessary suffering should be a priority of any researcher who works with animals.

Why is this important?

Use of animals in research has a long tradition and has been the subject of various debates. From ancient Greece, to physiological research of the 17th century and drug testing today, animals were used in place of human models to gain insight and improve knowledge. It is considered that animal research has contributed to about 70% of Nobel prizes in Medicine or Physiology. Various vaccines, antibiotics, insulin and organ transplants have been developed with help of animal research. In development and testing of new drugs, animal testing is still obligatory. New methods, such as computer simulations, models and cell and tissue cultures, have been used to replace animal research, but in some areas there is still no replacement of equal value.

For whom is this important?

phd students

The Embassy Editorial team, Iris Lechner, Rosie Hastings, Ružica Tokalić, Ana Zubec contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Feb 09, 2023

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