Animal welfare and the ethics of experimentation

Recent years have seen a welcome change in the attitude of some scientists towards animals, especially towards those species that are routinely used for experimental purposes. In the not too distant past, experiments were carried out where animals were subjected to considerable distress and it is largely due to public attitudes that such experimentation is now banned and all procedures are carefully scrutinised by Animal Ethics Committees before being approved. Copies of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) Code of Practice may be had by visiting the following website: http://www.health.gov.au/nhmrc/research/awc/code.htm

Experiments in which animals are subjected to stress are without value scientifically as, often, the animal's appropriate responses are masked or overwhelmed by the stress to which they are exposed. One can never be sure that animals housed in laboratory situations are behaving ‘normally’, although the laboratory is the only place where hypotheses can be properly tested. It is thus extremely important that every effort is made to ensure that animals held in laboratories are given an environment sufficiently diverse for them to display their normal behaviour and physiology. A classical case in point is that of reptiles, which were thought for many years to be ‘cold-blooded’ because, in laboratory situations, their body temperature closely parallels that of the surrounding environment.