Are Published Animal Studies Skewed?

Here's an article in Nature about how many animal studies with negative or inconclusive results go unpublished. It raises the question of how useful animal research really is if we only see the studies that show relevant results. What about the ones that are negative because animals are not really representative of human biology? Or negative for whatever other reasons?

Animal Researchers' Emotional Blackmail

Here's a succinct letter to the editor that summarizes the emotional blackmail propogated by animal researchers.

From the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA...

The million dollar ad campaign by the Foundation for Biomedical Research (“Critical research,” Nov. 10) is public relations at its worst.

It is designed to prey on our fears. It is all about convincing us that a cure for everything is just around the corner as long as we keep funding their animal research gravy train. They want us to keep on funneling billions and billions of taxpayer dollars to the drug companies, the research universities and the suppliers of the animals and the animal testing equipment. How stupid do they think we are?

Unfortunately, we may not be stupid, but most of us are willfully ignorant.

Europeans Continue to Search for Alternatives to Animal Research....Why Not Americans?

I just don't understand it. Is there a different culture regarding animals in Europe? They have drug companies that are just as powerful as those here. Is public outcry greater? Are animal rights organizations more effective? Are politicians more willing to act? What gives?

From Cordis News...

At a conference in Brussels, Belgium on 6 November, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, and Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik restated the EU's commitment to the reduction of animal testing.

Industry representatives were also present at the conference, which was held as part of the European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA). The EPAA was created in 2005 and is an unprecedented collaboration between science and industry to reduce animal suffering in scientific tests.

The aims of the EPAA are based on the '3Rs' of replacement, reduction and refinement. To enable this new approach to be developed, the European Commission and companies that are members of the EPAA are working hard to initiate novel methods of research and technology transfer that will reduce the need for animal testing.

UK Records Increase in Animal Testing

Bad news from the Guardian....

Nearly 3.7m experiments were performed on animals last year, a rise of 454,000 or 14% on the previous year, the Home Office said. The increase marks the greatest leap in animal use in medical research since 1986, when the government introduced new auditing procedures.

The growth in animal experiments reflects an expansion in biomedical research in Britain and is driven by advances in genetics and the development of new drugs that must be tested rigorously in monkeys before they are allowed to be given to humans. The experiments range from small procedures such as taking blood and tissue samples to invasive brain surgery and inducing incurable diseases such as Parkinson's and cancer. Substantial numbers of animals are used to test the safety of new drugs before they are allowed to be used in human trials.