Of mice and Mendel. The predicted rise in the use of knock‐out and transgenic mice should cause us to reflect on our justification for the use of animals in research

Abstract

It is no accident of linguistics that the phrase ‘to be a guinea pig’ is used to mean ‘to subject oneself to an untested product or procedure’. Indeed, guinea pigs were among the first animals to be used in medical research. They produce particularly strong immune responses to many antigenic agents; they are a favourite choice for hearing experiments because the outer ear, as in humans, is very accessible; and they are still used in the critical diagnosis of mycobacterial infections in humans—a procedure that leads to their death. But guinea pigs are just one of many vertebrates that are being used in increasing numbers, at least in some areas of biomedical research. Over the last two decades, resistance to the use of animals in research and testing has been growing in the USA and Europe. One of the major animal protection groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of animals, claiming that animals are not to be eaten, worn, experimented on, or used for entertainment. Other, more fundamentalist groups in the USA and the UK, such as the Animal Liberation Front, pursue this goal by rescuing animals and causing financial loss to animal exploiters, usually through the damage and destruction of property, as can be read on their web sites. In 1990, a researcher in Bristol, UK, barely escaped death when a bomb, planted by antivivisectionists, exploded under his car. More recently, animal rights activists have posted threatening letters filled with razor blades to university researchers across the USA, calling for an end to their experiments on animals. In April this year, a 26‐year‐old activist from Cheshire, UK, faced 15 charges of sending explosive devices to homes and businesses targeted by animal rights campaigners. Activist groups routinely publish names …