Akhtar
Introduction
2 categories of animal experimentations:
- Basic: investigation of basic biology and human disease
- Applied (drug research and development and toxicity and safety testing)
Animal experimentation is intended to inform human biology and health sciences and
to promote the safety and efficacy of potential treatments.
It is widely accepted that medicine should be evidence based, animal
experimentation as a means of informing human health has generally not been held
to this standard.
Akhtar shows that animal experimentation:
- Is poorly predictive of human outcomes
- Is unreliable across a wide category of disease areas
- That existing literature demonstrates the unreliability of animal
experimentation
Problems of successful translation to humans of data from animal
experimentation
The unreliability and limitations of animal experimentation have increasingly been
acknowledged (erkend). But there remains a general confidence within the
biomedical community that they can overcome.
3 conditions undermine this confidence and explain why animal experimentation fails
to reliably inform human health:
1. The influence of the laboratory procedures and environments on experimental
results
Laboratory procedures and conditions exert (uitoefenen) influences on
animal’s physiology and behaviours that are difficult to control and that can
impact research outcomes.
Animals in laboratories are placed in artificial environments which cause
distress and abnormal behaviours. Blood pressure and heart rates elevate in
rats watching other rats being decapitated (onthoofd). Cortisone levels rise in
monkeys watching other monkeys being restrained (vastgehouden) for blood
collection.
In order to control for potential confounders (verstorende factors), some
investigators have called for standardization of laboratory settings and
procedures. There are important influences of environmental conditions and
procedures specific to individual laboratories that can be difficult to eliminate.
2. The disparities (onenigheid) between animal models of disease and human
diseases
The lack of sufficient congruence (overeenstemming) between animal models
and human diseases are another obstacle. Human diseases are artificially
Introduction
2 categories of animal experimentations:
- Basic: investigation of basic biology and human disease
- Applied (drug research and development and toxicity and safety testing)
Animal experimentation is intended to inform human biology and health sciences and
to promote the safety and efficacy of potential treatments.
It is widely accepted that medicine should be evidence based, animal
experimentation as a means of informing human health has generally not been held
to this standard.
Akhtar shows that animal experimentation:
- Is poorly predictive of human outcomes
- Is unreliable across a wide category of disease areas
- That existing literature demonstrates the unreliability of animal
experimentation
Problems of successful translation to humans of data from animal
experimentation
The unreliability and limitations of animal experimentation have increasingly been
acknowledged (erkend). But there remains a general confidence within the
biomedical community that they can overcome.
3 conditions undermine this confidence and explain why animal experimentation fails
to reliably inform human health:
1. The influence of the laboratory procedures and environments on experimental
results
Laboratory procedures and conditions exert (uitoefenen) influences on
animal’s physiology and behaviours that are difficult to control and that can
impact research outcomes.
Animals in laboratories are placed in artificial environments which cause
distress and abnormal behaviours. Blood pressure and heart rates elevate in
rats watching other rats being decapitated (onthoofd). Cortisone levels rise in
monkeys watching other monkeys being restrained (vastgehouden) for blood
collection.
In order to control for potential confounders (verstorende factors), some
investigators have called for standardization of laboratory settings and
procedures. There are important influences of environmental conditions and
procedures specific to individual laboratories that can be difficult to eliminate.
2. The disparities (onenigheid) between animal models of disease and human
diseases
The lack of sufficient congruence (overeenstemming) between animal models
and human diseases are another obstacle. Human diseases are artificially
