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The Ethics of Research involving Animals

Workshop: Ethics and research involving animals

Report of Meeting

On 28 November 2001, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics held a closed Workshop with a group of fifteen invited experts to discuss the ethics of research using animals. It was considered timely for the Council to address the issues raised by research involving animals because of a number of recent developments including the rising trend in the number of genetically modified (GM) animals, and the developments regarding Huntingdon Life Sciences and animal rights organisations. The aim of the workshop was to identify important ethical issues in relation to advances in animal research and to consider whether it would be appropriate and worthwhile for the Council to take the topic forward.

The first half of the meeting focused on four presentations: the current context as regards scientific and policy in the UK; ethical issues; future trends; and the use of genetically modified animals. This was followed by a discussion of ethical issues that might be raised by future developments in animal experimentation and an assessment of whether the Council could play a useful role in exploring these issues.

Over recent years, the total number of animals used in scientific research each year has been falling. However, within this overall decrease, there has been a substantial increase in the use of genetically modified animals (see appendix for details – link to separate webpage). Much of the discussion during the Workshop, therefore, focused on this trend. Currently, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, all GM animals must be registered. This is because the Act specifies that any scientific procedure applied to an animal protected by the Act which may cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm must be regulated. Since it is very difficult to predict accurately whether a genetic modification of an animal will lead to harm, as a precaution, all GM animals, even those used only for breeding, must be licensed. The increasing use of GM animals raises questions about this requirement, especially since a large proportion are used only to maintain breeding lines rather than for research. On the other hand, the breeding of animals such as the OncoMouse raise questions about the ethical acceptability of creating an animal that will suffer throughout its life. Advances in genetic modification also allow new possibilities such as the creation of animal/human hybrids.

An increasing amount of research is being undertaken to identify the effect of individual genes. Researchers are systematically working through genomes , knocking out each gene in sequence and then in combination to understand their effects. Such research is already underway in fish, worms and flies, and is now beginning in mice. The justification offered for this research is that it will increase knowledge about the function of genes in humans. But such research is likely to involve very large numbers of animals and could create some very unpleasant mutations. In the light of the above, it was felt that important ethical questions were raised which could usefully be addressed by the Council.

As a result of the Workshop, five areas were identified that may warrant further consideration: