Call to End Animal Pain-Research
Using animals to research pain has "limited value" and should be replaced by newer technologies, argues a panel of medical experts from across England.
August 18, 2008
Animal tests can only simulate some aspects of chronic pain and are too simplistic, their report says.
With newer brain-imaging techniques, more studies could be done in humans, they write in the journal NeuroImage.
--Dr Gill Langley, Dr Hadwen Trust
Ministers said at present "licensed animal use remains essential to develop improved healthcare technologies".
There are few effective and safe treatments for chronic pain, such as that suffered by people with osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, the researchers from London, Manchester, Liverpool and Oxford say.
Animal experiments are commonly used in pain research, both under anaesthesia and with conscious animals.
However, as well as raising ethical questions, they are not an accurate mimic of the processes of human pain, the experts concluded.
Read article on the BBC News web site.
