Animals & Ethics

• What does animals and ethics regard?

  how animals are treated before, during and after the research
• What did the Animals Scientific Procedure Act 1986 state?

  > Law governing the use of animals

  > Researchers must hold a licence
• What mnemonic is used?

  Housing conditions

  Anesthetics, analgesia, euthanasia

  Reward, deprivation, aversive stimuli

  Disposing of animals

  
  

  Number of animals

  Animal care

  Replacing the use of animals

  Choice of species
• Housing conditions


  > Caging must be suitable for the species

  > Overcrowding should be avoided

  > Social experiences should be taken into account (Solitary/Social animals)
• Anesthetics, analgesia, euthanasia


  > Should be used to alleviate suffering

  > If pain remains constant, after, human killing should take place
• Reward, deprivation, aversive stimuli

  > Length of deprivation allowed will vary according to the animal
• Disposing of animals


  > When studies are complete, animals should be used for breeding, companions or for use in further studies
• Number of animals


  > Use smallest number of animals possible

  > Minimise by using secondary data

  > Balance between number and generalisability of your results
• Animal care


  > Should have suitable accomdation, food, water and space appropriate for their size and specific requirements

  > Animal care, 24/7, can be expensive
• Replacing the use of animals

  > Replace animals with video or computer simulations where possible

  > Should only be used if alternatives have been rejected

  > Humans instead of animals, if possible
• Choice of species


  > Must be appropriate for the study

  > Level of feelings should be taken into account to minimise distress

  > Never use endangered species
• What is Bateson's decision cube?

  > Determines whether research using animals is ethical and should be permitted

  > Level of animal suffering is considered

  > Compared with the certainty of benefit

  > Quality of research is considered

  
• What are the positive ethical issues?

  > Sometimes it is possible to use animals where it wouldn't be ethically possible to use humans (e.g. lesion studies involving deliberate damage)

  > Benefits could outweigh any costs like suffering - study would be ethical and permitted

  > Carry out procedures which benefit humans (e.g. studying effects of drugs in pregnancy)
• What are the negative ethical issues?

  > If level of animal suffering outweighs any potential benefits to society the study would be deemed unethical and is unlikely to be approved by home office

  > Animals in lavatory experiments are usually confined and in an unfamiliar environment which is likely to cause stress. Animals should be studied in their natural environment

  > Ethical guidelines can restrict research, using the smallest number of animals means that findings are less reliable due to sample sizes. Animals might have suffered for no reason