Guardian, 18 Feb 2007: Experimental theatre - It is absurd for Oxford to be building a new animal testing lab at a time when the accuracy of such testing is so doubtful.

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http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/marius_maxwell/2007/02/max.html

 

The Guardian. 18 February 2007

 

Experimental theatre. It is absurd for Oxford to be building a new animal

testing lab at a time when the accuracy of such testing is so doubtful.

By Marius Maxwell

 

As a neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and Oxford graduate with three decades of

research experience, I am appalled by the university's decision to build a

new animal laboratory - and by its recent Orwellian attempts to stifle

public debate. How ironic that an institution that relies on academic

freedoms for its very existence is attempting to silence its opponents. What

is the university trying to hide - besides the fact that non-human primates

used in experiments at Oxford are subjected to painful procedures that cause

them to vomit and have seizures, diarrhoea and tremors before they are

killed? And besides the fact that experimenting on sick, terrified animals

endangers human lives? An article published in December in the British

Medical Journal (the latest in a long series of similar sceptical studies)

suggests that using animal-based drug testing to predict human outcomes is

no more accurate than tossing a coin. The study found that only half of the

categories examined actually succeeded in predicting the results of

subsequent human trials, and even then, " the quality of the experiments was

poor " .

 

This helps to explain why, time and again, drugs that were deemed safe

during animal tests have harmed or killed humans. Extensive animal tests on

Vioxx did not reveal that people who take the drug have double the risk of a

heart attack. Animal tests did not reveal the dangers of Phenactin, E-Ferol,

Oraflex, Zomax, Suprol, Selacryn - the list goes on - all of which had to be

taken off the market. Ninety-two out of every 100 drugs that pass animal

tests fail in clinical trials in people.

 

The reason for these failures is no mystery. Studies published in recent

years have shown that primates suffer increased stress when they are handled

by humans, restrained for long periods of time and subjected to painful

experiments. This causes wild variations in respiration, heartbeat and the

release of hormones which render data questionable.

 

Consider too, using any non-human animals to study human ailments is

problematic simply because every species is unique. Metabolism,

biochemistry, genetic makeup and expression and physiology are all

different. Though all species share some physiological traits, even minor

differences in physiology can lead to profound differences in disease

pathology, treatment effectiveness and treatment safety - making it

impossible to extrapolate research results from animals, including primates,

to humans. Forward-thinking scientists in Great Britain and other countries

are now looking for better methods. Instead of squandering £18m to build yet

another animal laboratory, Oxford University should join them. The National

Cancer Institute in America, for example, uses human cancer cells, taken by

biopsy during surgery, to perform first-stage testing for its new

anti-cancer drugs. Private companies are developing three-dimensional

computer models that can predict a chemical's effect on all the body's

organs, as well as 3-D tissue models of eyes and skin made from human cells.

Today's buzzwords are microdosing, nanotechnology and biochip - not

" monkey " .

 

Oxford University could help lead the way to what is clearly the future by

using its funds to establish a world-class medical imaging and research

centre. The explosion of imaging techniques over the past decade (functional

MRI being but one) has, by itself, made experiments on non-human primates

obsolete.

 

All the genetic manipulations and wishful thinking in the world will not

turn a monkey into a human being. It is time for animal experimenters to

admit this and to start pursuing research methods that will help - not

harm - desperate human patients.

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with

French and Spanish language subsections.

 

 

Something to think about: We believe

that the Golden Rule applies to animals, too.

We don't accept the prevailing notion that

" people come first' " or that " people are more

important than animals. " Animals feel pain and

suffer just as we do, and it is almost always

humans making animals suffer and not the other

way around. Yet in spite of how cruelly

people behave towards animals -- not to mention

human cruelty to other humans -- we are supposed

to believe that humans are superior to other

animals. If people want to fancy themselves as

being of greater moral worth than the other

creatures on this earth, we should begin

behaving better than they do, and not worse.

Let's start treating everyone as we would like to

be treated ourselves.