Abstract Methodological choices in animal experimentation are influenced by a variety of factors. The analysis the relative weight such factors on practice can offer better idea influences characterizing work researchers today. To this aim, we conducted structured interviews and sent out questionnaires to using models. results showed that main factor influencing researchers’ with animals was ap...

From its basis in the writings of the philosopher Peter Singer and the bioethical shortcomings of animal experimentation and animal husbandry, the animal rights movement has evolved into an important societal movement critical of animal experimentation in biomedical research. A lack of dialogue and transparency, an absence of understanding and an unreasonable radicalization of different positio...

Law 11794 establishes procedures for the scientific use of animals and abrogates the previous Law 6638/1979, which was ineffective because it was not regulated by the Brazilian Executive Power. Without regulation, many issues remained ill-defined, including operational procedures and responsibilities such as licensing, accreditation, and institutional compliance inspection. The new law states t...

Initiatives leading to even modest reduction in animal use at major U.S. universities are likely to continue to face strong opposition. At least, that's the conclusion the author draws from his efforts at Northwestern University. In fact, despite a growing body of evidence that animal-based research is flawed at best and misleading or un-scientific at worst its use is growing at Northwestern an...

Claude Bernard, the father of scientific physiology, believed that if medicine was to become truly scientific, it would have to be based on rigorous and controlled animal experiments. Bernard instituted a paradigm which has shaped physiological practice for most of the twentieth century. In this paper we examine how Bernard's commitment to hypothetico-deductivism and determinism led to (a) his ...

Unique ethical issues can be associated with research outside the customary laboratory setting. Protocols involving wild animals must consider that any infringement on the wild nature of the species can be disruptive and may involve pain, fear, anxiety, and frustration, all of which constitute ethical harm that must be balanced with anticipated benefit. Agricultural and companion animal researc...

In this paper we propose a new way of conceptualizing animals in experimentation: the animal-as-patient. Construing and treating animals as patients offers a way of successfully addressing some of the entrenched epistemological and ethical problems within a practice of animal experimentation directed to human clinical benefit. This approach is grounded in an epistemological insight and builds o...

In contrast to animal testing required by law to guarantee minimum safety standards for the licensing of drugs and chemicals, there are no regulations in basic research forcing scientists to perform animal tests. By (usually) free choice, questions are posed and hypotheses are examined which, in many cases, can only be answered by means of animal tests. Just as easily, different questions could...

Animal models are often used to test the effectiveness of a drug or procedure before proceeding to clinical trials. One reason for use of animal models is that they allow researchers to focus on particular pathological processes without the confounding effects of other injuries and treatments. However, it is essential that their results are valid and precise. Biased or imprecise results from an...