NON-ANIMAL RESEARCH

The IAVS has set up a fund to subsidise work on alternatives by Irish scientists. It will support projects directly related to finding or validating replacement techniques.

Examples include:

Epidemiology (Population studies)
- Medical research has sought to identify the underlying causes of human disease in order to develop effective preventive and therapeutic measures. It was epidemiological research, not animal experiments, which first identified the links between cigarette smoking and cancer, between bad diet and cancer, between lack of exercise and heart disease, between environmental toxicity and illness and death from poisoning, Animal experiments only confirmed them.

Patient Studies
- The main source of medical knowledge has always been the direct study of human disease by closely monitoring human patients. Modern noninvasive imaging devices such as CAT, MRI, PET and SPECT scans have revolutionized clinical investigation. These devices permit the ongoing evaluation of human disease in living human patients and have contributed greatly to medical knowledge.

Autopsies and Biopsies
- Autopsies have been crucial to our current understanding of many diseases, such as heart disease, appendicitis, diabetes and alzheimer's disease. Although the usefulness of autopsies is generally limited to the disease's lethal stage, biopsies can provide information into other disease stages. Diagnostic needle and endoscopic biopsies often permit safe procurement of human tissues from living patients.

In vitro cell and tissue cultures
- In tissue and organ cultures, specimens are grown outside their normal human, animal or vegetable environments in specially prepared nutrient cultures. Tissues can be derived from many sources acceptable in ethical terms. In vitro tests using using cells with human DNA can detect DNA damage much more readily than animal tests.

For more information on organisation's dedicated to non-animal research visit Dr. Hadwen Trust , Lord Dowding Fund and Frame.

back to top