Laboratory animal science, welfare and ethics in pharmacology and toxicology.

Abstract

The biological sciences pharmacology and toxicology, are based on laboratory research which also includes experi- ments on animals. International guiding principles for bio- medical research involving animals include scientific justifi- cation and ethical acceptability. All proposed use of lab- oratory animals which may cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm should be subject to review, to determine whether such use appears to be justifiable in those respects and in respect of present knowledge in laboratory animal science and welfare. In a letter from the Editor of this journal (Schou 1995), it was stated “that many regions and nations have guidelines for the acceptable use of experimen- tal animals and even legislation requiring the acceptance of procedures and protocols prior to animal studies. These ethical standards must be adhered to when using experi- mental animals and any experimenter must be aware of the consequences of his work on the animals”. Experiments on live animals give rise to an ethical di- lemma. On one hand most of the animals used are sentient beings who may be harmed by the experiments. The experi- ments, on the other hand, may be vital for the protection of human and animal health and safety. There is no consen- sus on how to tackle this dilemma. One extreme is the view taken by adherents of the so-called animal rights view (Re- gan 1984), claiming that we are never justified in harming animals for human purposes. The other extreme is the view according to which animals can be used at our discretion (Narveson 1983; Carruthers 1992). However, the majority of the population seems to hold an attitude which covers the middle ground accepting that animals may be used for research but only under certain