Experiments “terrifying” for animals

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b> <font face="Arial" size="4">Lab experiments “terrifying” for animals</font> </b> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial"><font size="1">Posted Dec. 29, 2004<br> Special to World Science</font> <b> <font size="2" face="Arial"><br> <br> </font> </b> </font> <b> <font face="Arial" size="2">The most harmless-seeming lab experiments spark panic in the creatures going through them, according to a new report.</font> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">The report, based on a review of past scientific studies, claims that asserted that mice, rabbits, rats, beagles, geese, and other animals all show measurable levels of stress in response to routine laboratory procedures.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">These procedures, including blood draws and use of stomach tubes, are “terrifying” for animals, according to a press release announcing the findings. The statement was issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group. </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Jonathan Balcombe, a research consultant for the group, authored the report finding that physiological stress levels go up among animals undergoing experiments.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Even simple contact with laboratory workers is scary for animals, said Balcombe. “There is no such thing as a humane animal experiment,” he said in the statement. “Fear or panic ensues when the animal is touched or stuck with a needle.”</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Balcombe isn’t new to the longstanding debate over whether it is appropriate to use animals in scientific research. He has argued against the use of vivisection, the act of operating on live animals. “Vivisection labs cause animals pain, misery and death, and should be actively opposed,” though not by violence, as some say,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> he wrote </span>in an April 29, 2004 letter to the Times of London.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">But the new findings, according to the committee, are the first time such misery has been shown to befall animals during procedures that have until now been seen as relatively benign.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Balcombe’s full findings are published in the Autumn 2004 issue of the research journal Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science, according to the committee. The findings are based on an extensive review of the scientific literature by Balcombe, an ethologist, or scientist who studies animal behavior.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">A mouse who is picked up and briefly held experiences several physiological reactions, according to the group: As stress-response hormones flood the bloodstream, the mouse exhibits a racing pulse and a spike in blood pressure. These symptoms can persist for up to an hour after each event. Immune response is also affected.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">“In rats and mice, the growth of tumors is strongly influenced by how much the animals are handled,” the group’s statement said.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font face="Arial" size="2"> </font></span><font face="Arial" size="2">The paper focused on three routine procedures: handling, blood collection and force-feeding. Independent of the invasive experiments themselves, these daily routines can cause an animal to experience elevated bloodstream concentrations of substances known to indicate stress: corticosterone, prolactin, glucose, and epinephrine.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Impaired immune response has also been recorded in animals after anxiety-producing contact with lab personnel, according to the study.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">Balcombe argued that scared animals don’t produce sound scientific results because their fear results in distorted experimental results.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2">“Research on tumor development, immune function, endocrine [hormonal] and cardiovascular disorders, neoplasms [tumors], developmental defects, and psychological phenomena are particularly vulnerable to data being contaminated by animals’ stress effects,” said Balcombe.</font></p> </b> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b> <font size="2" face="Arial"><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/world-science">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/world-science</a></font> </b> </p> </body>