NEWS & ANALYSIS

Read the latest news on the effort to end animal experimentation in medical research and promote the use of effective, cutting-edge, nonanimal alternatives that promote human health without the use of outdated and wasteful animal tests.

Irrelevance of Animal Experimentation

• NASA to Start Irradiating Monkeys Spider monkeys will be exposed to regular, low dose radiation as NASA invesgitates the effects of long term space travel. Read more >>

• Staff Maim Lab Mice with BallpointsThousands of animals being used to test a wrinkle-erasing rival to Botox are facing cruel and agonising experiments at a Home Office-approved laboratory, an undercover investigation has found. Read more >>

• Tracing the Origins of Human Empathy A pioneer in primate studies, Frans de Waal sees our better side in chimps, especially our capacity for empathy. Read more >>

• Brain Scientists Misled By Squid For more than 50 years, scientists who study the brain have been misled by squid. They did experiments on squid nerve cells thinking that those cells were good models for the human nervous system. Now a team of scientists in Germany says the squid may not be such a good model after all. Read more >>

• Monkeys Suffered in Lab, Suit Says Some of the rhesus monkeys that served as laboratory animals for InVivo Therapeutics Corp.’s research into spinal cord injuries have to suffer in the name of medical science. Read more >>

• On the Trail of the White Rabbit: The Case Against Animal Testing For the lay person, it's difficult to look at the suffering of animals who are the subjects of research, whose bodies are torn apart and mutilated without anesthetic, who are injected with pathogens and carcinogens—who live in cramped cages and do not breathe outside air or move freely or receive affection—and to further imagine that their destruction may be a waste of life, laboratory time and (mostly NIH) money, which could be used to pursue real cures. Read more >>

• More Animals 'Being Killed During Medical Research' Growing numbers of animals are being used during medical research, official figures are expected to show, amid claims the majority die during experiments. Read more >>

• Chimpanzees and Biomedical Research I have now been asked a perfectly reasonable question that arises from our recent paper on chimpanzee “AIDS” several times. The question is, should we reinvigorate biomedical testing of SIV infection in chimpanzees as a model for HIV?  The simple answer is no. There are several compelling reasons for this. Read more >>

• Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, and Other Stars Join Cyber March for Humane Science Celebrities are showing their support for research without animal experiments by joining the Make Animal Testing History virtual march. Read more >>

   

• British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Cautiously Welcomes House of Lords Interim Report The BUAV has cautiously welcomed the preliminary conclusions of the House of Lords Committee looking at EU Directive 86/609 on the protection of animals used in experiments, but is now calling on the committee to include further key provisions prior to the publication of the final report in November. Read more >>

• Medical Research without Animals: Can We Get There? The ethics of animal experimentation: Can ethics and medical science co-exist? Read more >>

• Medical Progress Depends on Animal Models – Doesn’t It? In this essay, the origins and justification of this oft-repeated statement are examined. Despite its endorsement by leading academic bodies, it is far from clear that the statement has been, or even could be, formally validated. Read more >>

• PCRM’s Simon Chaitowitz Discusses Animal Testing and Her Battle with Cancer One of my doctors has told me to get my affairs in order, which is why I'm writing this column. I want to explain why someone who takes so many animal-tested drugs is opposed to animal research. Read more >>

• Crabs 'Feel and Remember Pain' Suggests New Study New research suggests that crabs not only suffer pain but that they retain a memory of it. Read more >>

• PCRM Senior Medical and Research Adviser John Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C., Weighs In on Animal Experiments There are many things wrong with the use of intimidation and violence in the critical debate over animal research. In addition to being anathema in our society, such tactics obscure important issues regarding animal experiments and human health. Read more>>

The Latest in Nonanimal Research Methods

• House of Lords Report Calls for Animal Research Reform A report by the House of Lords European Union Committee calls on the UK government to support efforts to update EU law on animal experiments. Read more >>

• Dr. Thomas Hartung won the 2009 Russell & Burch Award At the 7th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) presented Dr. Thomas Hartung the 2009 Russel & Burch Award. This award is for helping the progression of developing and the implementation of the use of non-animal methods in toxicity testing. Read more >>

• Are the Lab Rat's Days Numbered? More Accuracy Seen in Living Cell Stand-Ins for Human Organs Bioengineers are striving to topple a scientific icon: the lowly lab mouse. And to replace bunnies, beagles, and other warm-blooded animals with insentient but biologically sophisticated substitutes. Read more >>

• Dr. Hadwen Trust Research Wins Nonanimal Replacement Prize Dr. Hadwen Trust-funded researchers studying breast cancer have won a prestigious nonanimal replacement prize. Read more >>

• Drug Maker Told Studies Would Aid It, Papers Say An influential Harvard child psychiatrist told the drug giant Johnson & Johnson that planned studies of its medicines in children would yield results benefiting the company, according to court documents dating over several years that the psychiatrist wants sealed. Read more >>

• Mouse Trap? Stanford Immunologist Calls for More Research on Humans, Not Mice The fabled laboratory mouse can teach us only so much about how we humans get sick and what to do about it, says a leading researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The time has come for immunologists to start weaning themselves from experimental rodents. Read more>>

• FDA Eyes Simulated Studies The FDA plans to use new computer technology to simulate how some drugs in development are supposed to work, in hopes of identifying safety and effectiveness issues before late-stage clinical trials are completed. Read more>>

Research Ethics

• Pfizer Hit with Record $2.3B Fine Drug maker Pfizer must pay a record $2.3 billion settlement for illegal drug promotion. Read more >>

• Bribery Charges against Novo Nordisk in Sweden Insulin maker is suspected of paying for diabetes specialists’ trip to South African conference Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk is facing charges by Swedish authorities that it treated hospital staff to an all-expenses-paid conference trip to South Africa in December. Read more >>

• Renal Researchers Faked DataTwo researchers conducting animal studies on immunosuppression lied about experimental methodologies and falsified data in 16 papers and several grants produced over the past 8 years, according to the Office of Research Integrity. Read more >>

• Reasons Scientists Avoid Thinking about Ethics Science is a powerful force for change in modern society. As the professionals at its helm, scientists have a unique responsibility to shepherd that change with thoughtful advocacy of their research and careful ethical scrutiny of their own behavior. Read more>>

• Academic Medical Centers Often Guilty of Research Hype The media may be guilty of exaggerating the results of medical studies, but academic medical centers that hype the results aren’t blameless themselves. Read more >>

• Drugmakers’ Dollars, Doctors’ Disclosure Disorders Doctors Frederick Goodwin and Joseph Biederman are counterattacking in an effort to defend their reputations following disclosures that they took millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies while promoting the drug companies' products. Read more>>

• We Fought Cancer…And Cancer Won After billions spent on research and decades of hit-or-miss treatments, it's time to rethink the war on cancer. Read more>>