Animals in Scientific Research
- The Ethics Of Using Animals in Research
- An online teaching module designed to stimulate discussion about the ethical issues that scientists face when doing research with animals.
- Unexpected Adverse Events
- A scenario about a researcher's decision when some of his animal research subjects die unexpectedly.
- Look, I've Changed
- A scenario about research in which a strange side effect is noticed in mice which would not affect humans.
- The Jenny Ito Case: Getting Results
- A scenario about a researcher who is faced with making a decision after her advisor asks her to modify the protocol to get results.
- The Jenny Ito Case: Getting Results, Dialogue Version
- The dialogue version of a scenario about a researcher who is faced with making a protocol decision.
- If You Were an IACUC Committee Member
- A number of scenarios about research to be approached from the perspective of someone on an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
- The New Hip
- A scenario about a researcher who is trying to decide if an animal model is appropriate for her research.
- Survival Skills for Emerging Researchers
- A scenario about a researcher who is faced with making a decision after several dogs die in the course of his experiment.
- Experiment Discomfort
- A scenario about research that requires one to experiment on animals while the animal is conscious.
- A Question of Sacrifice
- A scenario about research that requires one to sacrifice animals without anesthetics or analgesics.
- Introducing Viruses in the Field
- A scenario about field research on a live HIV vaccine to be given to chimpanzees.
- What Suffering or Sacrifice of Experimental Animals is Warranted?
- A case study concerning the ethical constraints on causing suffering or death of higher mammals, such as cats, to study the brain correlates of vision?
- Counting Sheep: Ethical Problems in Animal Research
- Surgical procedures to study the liver of sheep with cancer take longer than expected. The graduate student in charge begins to hurry the procedures and some of the sheep die.
- Changing the Subject
- A graduate student questions an experimental procedure to study the central nervous system of animals.
Relevant Web Resources
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- Animal Welfare Act.
- This law authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate the transport, sale, and handling of various non-human animals intended for research or "other purposes". This law has implications for institutions involved with biomedical research. On this site there is a link to common questions and answers about this act and its regulations for biomedical research institutions. The most recent addition to this act, the "Improved Standards for Laboratory Animals," clarifies what is meant by humane care. It also specifies that pain and distress of animals be minimized and that animals be provided with an adequate physical environment to enhance their psychological well being.
- Animal Welfare Regulations.
- Title 9 of the federal regulations includes information on registering research facilities, appointing an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (see section 2.31), hiring an attending veterinarian (section 2.33), record-keeping requirements, the requirement to prepare and submit an annual report, and requirements for training personnel of the research facility (section 2.32).
- 1993 Report of the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) Panel on Euthanasia.
- This PDF report gives information on the euthanasia of animals in research. Its purpose is to give professional guidance for relieving pain and suffering of animals to be euthanized. Researchers should consult this document when designing research protocols.
- Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Guidebook.
- Prepared by ARENA (Applied Research Ethics National Association) and NIH (National Institutes of Health), this is a guidebook meant to help institutions comply with the federal requirement that all research facilities doing animal research institute an Animal Care and Use Committee. (Takes a few minutes to download.)
- The seventh edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
- This document discusses appropriate handling and care of traditional and nontraditional animals and contains discussion of some federal regulations.
- A Web Tutorial
- on the PHS policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
- The American Physiological Society
- provides its own answers to frequently asked questions about animal research, such as "Why are cosmetics tested on animals?", "How are research animals protected?" and "Are there alternatives to doing research with animals?" The site also includes a case study regarding polio.
- Public Health Service
- The PHS statement on "The Importance of Animals in Biomedical and Behavioral Research."
- Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
- This site has public policy statements on the use of animals in research and education.
- Care and Use of Animals in Research
- as presented in the American Psychological Association Ethics Code.
- Information Resources for Adjuvants and Antibody Production: Comparisons and Alternative Technologies: 1990-1997.
- Prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library, and Animal Welfare Information Center, this website contains a bibliography of published articles and guidelines about the use of animals in research.
- MIT's Animal Care Policy
- The animal care policy of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology
Relevant Literature on this Topic
- "Animal Experiments: Where do you Draw the Line?" New Scientist, May 22, 1999.
- A recent sampling of the opinions of British adults on the use of animals in research.
- NIH Animal Advisory Committee. Using Animals in Intramural Research: Guidelines for Investigators and Guidelines for Animal Users. (NIH Office of Animal Care and Use, 2000).
- A written course and handbook for principal investigators and animal users containing current practices, policies, and laws that affect the use of research animals.
- "Opinion Interview: But is it Art?" New Scientist, January 6, 2001.
- The ethical concerns of the use of Alba, a transgenic rabbit that glows green in the dark, as an art object.
- Saha, S. and Saha P.S. "Ethical Issues of Animal and Human Experimentation in the Development of Medical Devices." The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, ed., J. D. Bronzino, 2nd edition. (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1999).
- A general review of concerns for the use of animals and humans in biomedical device applications. See especially pages 191-198.
- Silverman, J., Suckow, M.A., Murthy, S. The IACUC Handbook. (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2000).
- This handbook focuses on basic and advanced concerns of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) and addresses questions and problems with IACUC committees.
- "Introduction to the Protocol Review Process" by Anne M. Duli and Diana Plesec, Case Western Reserve University (Case).
- A basic tool to help investigators fill out the necessary paperwork to properly procure and house animals at Case.
- Whitbeck, Caroline. 1998. Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research.
- New York: Cambridge University Press. Other keywords for this article: ethics and prudence; preferences vs. values; negligence; trust, distrust; ambiguity; moral ambiguity; responsibilities, general; professional responsibility; public safety; worker safety;laboratory safety; design process; engineering competence; environmental issues, global; environmental issues, chemical; conflict of interest; ethical codes and guidelines from professional societies; harassment, sexual harassment and aggression; workplace relationships; research misconduct; falsification and fabrication; plagiarism; authorship; human subjects in research.
- Tannenbaum, J. and Rowan, Andrew N. "Rethinking the Morality of Animal Research." Hastings Center Report. 1-5(5): 3243.
- Orlans, B. F., Beauchamp, T. L., Dresser, R., Morton, D. B., and Gluck, J. P. The Human Use of Animals: Case Studies in Ethical Choice. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
- Donnelley, Strachan and Nolan, Kathleen. "Animals, Science, and Ethics." Hastings Center Report, special supplement. May/June: 1-32; 1990.
- Dresser, Rebecca. "Standards for Animal Research: Looking at the Middle." Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. L3: 123-143; 1988.