18^th International Veterinary Congress

Animal Models and Testing

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Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. The research is conducted inside universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry. It includes pure research as well as applied research. Animals are also used for education, breeding, and defense research. The practice is regulated to various degrees in different countries. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals from zebrafish to non-human primates ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million used annually. Invertebrates, mice, rats, birds, fish, frogs, and animals not yet weaned are not included in the figures in the United States, one estimate of mice and rats used in the US alone in 2001 was 80 million. Most animals are euthanized after being used in an experiment. Sources of laboratory animals vary between countries and species, most animals are purpose-bred, while a minority are caught in the wild or supplied by dealers who obtain them from auctions and pounds. According to the Humane Society, registration of a single pesticide requires more than 50 experiments and the use of as many as 12,000 animals. When used in cosmetic tests, mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs are often subjected to skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief. In tests of potential carcinogens, subjects are given a substance every day for 2 years. Others tests involve killing pregnant animals and testing their fetuses. The real-life applications for some of the tested substances are as trivial as an “improved” laundry detergent, new eye shadow, or copycat drugs to replace a profitable pharmaceutical whose patent expired. Alternative tests achieve one or more of the “3 R’s:” replaces a procedure that uses animals with a procedure that doesn’t, reduces the number of animals used in a procedure, refines a procedure to alleviate or minimize potential animal pain.