Perspectives
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PERSPECTIVES several organizations that were set up to SCIENCE AND SOCIETY continue the campaign. In both the United States and Europe, the debate about animal experimentation waned Animal experimentation: with the advent of the First World War, only to re-emerge during the 1970s, when anti- the continuing debate vivisection and animal-welfare organizations joined forces to campaign for new legislation to regulate animal research and testing. In the Mark Matfield United States, the public debate re-emerged in a more dramatic fashion in 1980, when an The use of animals in research and there was considerable protest from some activist infiltrated the laboratory of Dr Edward development has remained a subject of members of the audience and that, after one Taub of the Institute of Behavioural Research public debate for over a century. Although animal had been injected, an eminent med- at Silver Spring, Maryland (BOX 1). This attack there is good evidence from opinion surveys ical figure summoned the magistrates to on Taub’s research was organized by a tiny that the public accepts the use of animals in prevent the demonstration from continuing. animal-rights group called People for the research, they are poorly informed about the The Royal Society for the Prevention of Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which way in which it is regulated, and are Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) brought a pros- has since grown to dominate the campaign in increasingly concerned about laboratory- ecution for cruelty, and several of the doctors the United States. animal welfare. This article will review how present at the demonstration gave evidence public concerns about animal against Magnan, who returned to France to The anatomy of the campaign experimentation developed, the recent avoid answering the charges. The press fol- The United Kingdom still remains the country activities of animal-rights groups, and the lowed these events with interest and there was in which the debate is most intense, with opportunities and challenges facing the a heated debate about vivisection in the pages some of the antivivisection organizations that scientific community. of popular magazines. The very first anti- were founded in the late 1800s still campaign- vivisection pamphlets, calling for legislation ing actively. The organizations that are The historical context to ban animal experimentation, appeared in opposed to animal experimentation fall into The origin of public and political debate about London only months after the BMA meeting. three broad groups. The legitimate animal- animal experimentation throughout the world Over the next two years, the debate con- welfare organizations, such as the RSPCA, occurred at the Annual Meeting of the British tinued to escalate. The first antivivisection take a pragmatic approach. Although they Medical Association (BMA) that was held in society was formed, bills were introduced into espouse the long-term objective of ending Norwich in 1874. The BMA had invited the Parliament, the scientific community fought animal experimentation, they accept that this French scientist Eugene Magnan to lecture on back, a Royal Commission of Enquiry was is not going to happen within the foreseeable the physiological effects of alcohol. After the held, and compromise legislation was even- future. In the meantime, they seek to work lecture, Dr Magnan gave a demonstration of tually pushed through by the government1. with scientists to improve the welfare of lab- the induction of experimental epilepsy in a dog In the United States, the origins of the oratory animals and develop alternative, by the intravenous injection of absinthe. At this debate paralleled developments in the United non-animal, methods. time, physiological research in continental Kingdom. In 1874, Henry Burgh started the The mainstream antivivisection and ani- Europe had a tradition of experimenting on first antivivisection campaign under the aus- mal-rights groups campaign very actively, but animals that had become firmly established pices of The American Society for the are careful to remain within the law and, in before the introduction of ether and chloro- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), some cases, are respectable enough to have form for general anaesthesia. In the United and later introduced a bill into the New York representatives on government committees. Kingdom, however, very little animal experi- legislature to make vivisection a misde- Some of these campaigning organizations mentation was carried out, chiefly because meanour2. However, adverse reports from take a dogmatic line, and argue that animal few scientists would contemplate invasive medical societies throughout the country pre- experimentation is scientifically invalid and experiments on conscious animals. vented the bill from gaining any real political has never produced any medical benefit. There is no accurate record of what hap- support. The American Anti-Vivisection Others prefer to use the selective presentation pened at the meeting, but it is known that Association, founded in 1883, was the first of of information to suggest that animal research NATURE REVIEWS | DRUG DISCOVERY VOLUME 1 | FEBRUARY 2002 | 149 © 2002 Macmillan Magazines Ltd PERSPECTIVES Box 1 | The case of Dr Edward Taub more recent times, the debate has also focused on whether animal research is necessary, what In May 1981, Dr Edward Taub of the medical progress it has produced and whether Institute of Behavioural Research at Silver alternatives could be used. A careful analysis Spring, Maryland, allowed a political science of the public debate about animal experimen- major at George Washington University, tation shows that essentially all of it revolves named Alex Pacheco, to work in his around two basic arguments: is animal experi- laboratory. Taub was studying the mentation cruel, and is it necessary5? The somatosensory apparatus, trying to ‘necessity’ argument is presented in different determine whether primates could re-learn ways, such as citing the use of alternative the use of deafferented limbs. Pacheco methods, or questioning the ‘validity’ of animal volunteered to work in Taub’s laboratory, claiming to be interested in medical research. research, but ultimately they are all arguing In fact, Pacheco was one of the founders of a about whether there is a need for animal tiny protest group called People for the research. Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which Two recent opinion surveys conducted in had been organizing protests outside the the United Kingdom have given an important National Institutes of Health (NIH) only insight into the nature and origins of the UK weeks before. Pacheco’s colleagues in PETA public’s views on the issue6,7. They revealed decided to send him to infiltrate Taub’s that most of the general public accepted that laboratory and expose what they considered animals should be used in research, but with to be cruel and unnecessary experiments12. some very important qualifications. Their In September that year, Pacheco made a series of allegations that resulted in Taub’s arrest and acceptance was conditional on the purpose of 119 charges. Of these charges, 113 were dismissed at the first court case, 5 more in the second case, the experimentation being for important and the last charge was overturned 2 years later13. With the string of court cases and media medical research, that the animals should be attention, the whole situation became a cause célèbre. The NIH started an investigation and rodents and that they should not suffer. If any suspended Taub’s research funding. The primates were seized by the police, were allegedly of these three factors were altered, the level of kidnapped by PETA, returned, handed back to Taub, then almost immediately remanded to the acceptance diminished substantially. NIH Animal Centre in Poolesville. Their custody and fate became the subject of a series of court When the respondents were asked about 12 cases that lasted for more than a decade . how they thought animal research should be PETA used the case of the ‘Silver Spring Monkeys’ as a springboard to national attention, regulated, they spontaneously suggested all eventually building itself into being the leading animal-rights organization in the United States. the key elements of the existing UK system of Indeed, it has been described as “…probably the most aggressive aboveground animal-rights regulation. This indicates that, if they were organisation in the world”12. Alex Pacheco has been Director or Chairman of PETA for most of its existence. more aware of the existing regulatory system, Despite the fact that three leading scientific organizations (the American Psychological Society, they might have stronger support for the way the Society for Neuroscience and The American Physiological Society) held separate animals are used in research in the United investigations into the allegations against Taub and each vindicated him, the controversy and the Kingdom. damage to his reputation delayed his research for most of the decade that followed the infiltration. Taub himself was left without a job, as his salary depended on his research funding, The scientific community’s response and, being at the centre of the controversy, he found it difficult to secure another position. After In those countries in which the scientific being without a post for five years, he was eventually offered a position at the University of community has been faced with a vocal cam- Alabama13. This gave him the opportunity to translate his findings from the primate studies to paign against the use of animals in research, stroke patients, and he developed the method of constraint-induced movement therapy to restore they have responded by setting up organiza- the use of affected limbs in stroke victims14. (Photo courtesy of Dr Edward Taub.) tions to represent their perspective in the public and political debate. The first such organization, The Physiological Society, was is of questionable value, is conducted poorly The United States also has its share of founded in the United Kingdom in 1876. and always causes great suffering.