Posted by Emu under blog's category : Policy Issues

This month has seen publication of the long-awaited Hampton Implementation Review Report for the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Division and Inspectorate.

The review examines the work of the Animal Sceintific Procedures Division (ASPD) and Inspectorate (ASPI), which are both part of the Home Office's Science and Research Group (SRG). Throughout the report the organisation as a whole is referred to as ASP). We believe the Review provides positive guidelines for the Home Office to take forward in future.

The Review is part of a national process which looks at the work of 36 regulators. The Reports assess how well regulators are following the principles set out by Sir Philip Hampton in 2005. The Hampton principles cover better regulation and encourage best practice by increasing openness and transparency, highlighting areas for development, and spreading good practice to other regulators.

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Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

A paper in the January 2010 Journal of Biomedical Ethics gives an interesting insight into the use of public opinion polls by all sides in the UK animal research debate. In Research Ethics: The role of ‘public opinion’ in the UK animal research debate, Dr Pru Hobson-West looks at the role of public opinion in the debate, rather than what the public thinks or even what polling purports to show.

She interviewed laboratory scientists and other UK stakeholders, demonstrating that public opinion has become a kind of resource in the debate, with everyone wanting to show that opinion is on their side. This, she says, is a way to show legitimacy for a view. But should public opinion matter for science policy and ethical reasoning?

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Posted by Devilfish under blog's category : Antivivisection & extremism

What is wrong with animal experiments? asks BUAV's new ‘guide for students' and it is a question worth asking. The trouble is that the answers that the guide provides don't seem to have very much to do with the science.  

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Posted by Emu under blog's category : Animal welfare & alternatives

Critiques of animal research usually focus on issues such as the need for the study, the number of animals used, and how they are treated. Equally important, but often overlooked, are issues such as whether the experiment is properly designed, and whether the results are properly analysed and communicated.

In December 2009 the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research authored a paper in PLoS One reviewing experimental design and reporting of research involving animals.

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