Frequently Asked Questions

These consider some of the issues relating to the use of animals in biomedical research:

Surely there is evidence that animal research is useful for human medicine?

But animal research must lead to cures for humans?

It is estimated that between only 5% (Contopoulos-Ioannidis et al 2003) and 10% of animal study interventions result in approved use in humans (Kola and Landis 2004; van der Worp et al 2010). However the rate varies widely by disease; cancer is estimated to have a 5% success rate (Kola and Landis 2004), Alzheimer’s disease a 0.4% success rate (Cummings et al 2014) and stroke a dismal success rate of 0.1% (Howells et al 2012). The highest rate -18% – appears to be for cardiovascular disease (Vatner 2016).

Elsewhere there is a similar story. In the field of spinal cord injury, none of the 22 drugs that worked in animals turned out to work in humans (Geerts 2009). In the case of inflammatory diseases, there is almost no correlation between human and mouse data (Seok et al 2013). Every approach to treating sepsis that was successful in animals has failed in humans (Leist and Hartung 2013). All but one of the experimental treatments that improved motor neurone disease in animals failed in human trials, and the benefits of the one successful treatment, in terms of extended survival, are considered negligible (Perrin 2014).

But I am always hearing about new breakthroughs as a result of animal research

At least animal research must be conducted to the highest scientific standards?

Do animal researchers report their findings fairly?

Would drugs be safe for us if they were not first tested on animals?

Humans are animals, so what’s the problem?

How can we hope to cure cancer without animal research?

How can we know that medicines will not cause birth defects without testing them on animals?

Wasn’t animal research responsible for the polio vaccine and other major medical and scientific advances?

Don’t all doctors support the concept of animal research?

Why does animal research continue?

Aren’t the 3Rs the best way to phase out animal research?

If we don’t use animals, what will we use?

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