Alternatives to the use of mammals for pain research.

The study of pain and analgesia is an important area of biomedical research which has led to a number of significant advances in the treatment of acute and chronic pain in the clinic. This area of research examines the physiology of pain transmission and the pharmacology of analgesic drugs by employing a variety of in vitro and in vivo animal models. To date, the vast majority of in vivo models for pain research have used mammalian species, primarily rodents and, to a lesser extent, canines, felines, and primates. The present review summarizes the special considerations of animal use in pain research and the philosophic and scientific basis for developing adjunct models using lower vertebrates. Existent literature on pain research using non-mammalian vertebrates is reviewed, with a special focus on amphibian species. Given the ethical concerns of experimental animal use and the importance of a comparative approach to the basic understanding of pain-processing, the further development of non-mammalian models for pain research should be encouraged.     

Alternatives to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters for monogastric animals

Recently, more and more is becoming known about the mode of action of antibiotics as growth promoters (AMGP), particularly in relation to the development of microbial resistance. Consequently, the use of these AMGP is already restricted or forbidden in many countries. Therefore, to compensate for the possible decrease in production, a lot of work is now being done to investigate possible alternatives. Suitable alternatives must be both proven and cost-effective, for the conditions and diets as used at the farm level.     

Defending the use of animals to research human disease

Recent activities by animal rights sympathizers in the UK at Shoreham, Brighton, Brightlingsea and Dover, campaigning against live transport of domestic animals, have again brought the issue of animal rights onto the front pages of newspapers in the UK. Television news bulletins have continued to show almost nightly scenes of violent protest as the police have struggled to keep demonstrators from disrupting the legal export of livestock. This is the public face of a continuing campaign to establish rights for animals that has gained strength sincethe early 1970s. It includes an on-going campaign against medical scientists who use animals in their research.