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The Ethics of Research involving Animals

Workshop: Ethics and research involving animals (3)

Issues of regulation

The Workshop’s group identified four main areas of existing regulation that are likely to need to be reconsidered in the coming years: the increasing number of animals being used; classification (particularly defining ‘harmful’ and ‘non-harmful’ mutants); assessment of welfare, and cost-benefit analysis.

One of the primary difficulties with current regulation in the UK is the difficulty in assessing the welfare of laboratory animals in order to make cost-benefit evaluations. It was suggested that such welfare assessments should be undertaken throughout the duration of research projects, and that they should be considered in the light of actual results and benefits seen during the research rather than those predicted before the research began. Additionally, the issue of retrospective analyses was discussed. Currently, the accuracy of the initial cost-benefit analysis of a particular research project is never examined. The UK, unlike some other countries, does not require licence holders to assess retrospectively how much suffering in fact occurred during the research and what the benefits of the research were. The Home Office Inspectorate is currently reviewing the Ethical Review Process, and the hope was expressed that this will clarify the situation. It was noted that the opportunity exists in the UK’s current system of regulation to incorporate further guidance on the ethical import of some existing provisions.