Myths and facts
Here we list more than 20 common misconceptions about animal research and provide some facts to help you make up your mind on where you stand.
See also our FAQs.
Research on animals is not relevant to people because animals are different from people.

Of course there are minor differences, but these are far outweighed by the remarkable similarities. The differences can also give important clues about diseases and how they might be treated – for instance, if we knew why the mouse with muscular dystrophy suffers less muscle wasting than human patients, this might lead to a treatment for this debilitating and fatal disorder.
Vitamins work in the same way in animals as they do in people – research on guinea pigs led to the discovery of how vitamin C works. Hormones found in animals also work in a similar way in people. The following animal hormones have all been used successfully in human patients: insulin from pigs or cows; thyrotropin from cows; calcitonin from salmon; adrenocorticotrophic hormone from farm animals; oxytocin and vasopressin from pigs.
Associated Links:
Animal research on animals is not relevant because people and animals suffer from different illnesses.

Most human diseases exist in at least one other species. Many different animals naturally get illnesses such as cancer, heart failure, asthma, rabies and malaria and they can be treated in much the same way as human patients. There is evidence that dinosaurs suffered from arthritis. Chimpanzees can get polio and the human vaccine has been used to protect them in the wild.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KUTAYTANIR
Animal testing doesn’t work and causes drug side effects.

Problems that will not be revealed by test tube results will often show up in animal tests. For instance, a medicine given by mouth may be altered by digestion, becoming less effective or more toxic. The animal tests aim to reveal major undesirable effects such as liver damage, raised blood pressure, nerve damage, or damage to the fetus. The results will give a strong indication of what the effects in people are likely to be. It is obviously important, and is required by law, to find out about potential problems before medicines are given to human volunteers and patients in clinical trials.
The new medicine will be tested on around 15 times as many human volunteers as animals. Human clinical trials will involve testing a potential drug on 3-5,000 human volunteers and patients. If a side effect (affecting say 1 in 10,000 patients) shows up only after this stage, then it is difficult to see how it could have been spotted before.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES
Associated Links:
• Where do medicines come from?
• Development of new treatments
Medicines that work in people are toxic to animals and vice versa.

Another common myth is that thalidomide didn’t cause birth defects in animals. In fact it wasn’t tested in pregnant animals before it was prescribed to pregnant women. As soon as the tragic effects on unborn babies came to light, testing of thalidomide on pregnant animals showed it had very similar effects in many species. This led directly to the introduction of the UK Medicines Act in 1968.
Associated Links:
There is an endless list of drugs that have to be withdrawn because of side effects and these side effects are a major cause of hospital deaths.

Numbers of drug induced deaths or hospitalisation due to side effects are often exaggerated or misleading. Most of these deaths are not caused by normal doses of drugs, but are in fact due to accidental or deliberate overdose.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KUTAYTANIR
Associated Links:
The side-effects and subsequent withdrawal of the arthritis treatment Vioxx were due to animal tests.

Only when over 80 million patients around the world had taken this medicine and some long-term patient studies had been conducted was the increased risk of heart attack firmly established.
One answer to the problem of rare drug side effects is better scrutiny after approval. This would help to predict which patients might react badly – because of their genetic make-up, multiple illnesses or interactions with other medication.
IMAGE: WELLCOME IMAGES
Associated Links:
Animal research doesn’t work and hasn’t made any contribution to medical progress.

Each decade since the discovery of insulin has seen the introduction of new kinds of treatments for many diseases. Each of these and many other advances were critically dependent on animal research.
Given continued research using animals, we can expect further advances in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis and crippling joint disease. It is very difficult to see how we could make such medical advances without animal research.
Four independent reports have found that animal studies make an important contribution to scientific and medical advances.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/AJT
Associated Links:
The clinical trial tragedy (testing the medicine TGN1412) at Northwick Park shows that animal tests don't work.

There are around 300 clinical trials every year in the UK. Yet the kind of problem seen at Northwick Park Hospital is very rare, partly because animal and other tests are so good at discovering problems. To suggest that we abandon some tests because they are not 100% perfect is like saying that we should stop wearing seatbelts because they do not prevent all injuries.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/HAYDENBIRD
Associated Links:
25 years of primate research has failed to find vaccines, cures or treatments for AIDS.

However, animal studies were crucial in identifying the virus, for developing diagnostic tests, and for producing therapies such as antiretrovirals that have prolonged millions of lives. These medicines mean that HIV can be a manageable chronic condition rather than an automatic death sentence, as it was in the 1980s.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/DRA_SCHWARTZ
Associated Links:
Systematic reviews demonstrate that animal studies are meaningless for human health.

Systematic reviews have shown that all types of study can be improved. Where they have been carried out, systematic reviews and other independent studies have shown that animal studies can be relevant for human medical advances.
However, systematic reviews simply cannot provide all the answers. A lot depends on how studies are selected for review. For most animal research, the aim is not to predict what will happen in human trials, but to discover new knowledge or make advances in understanding diseases. In many cases comparing the results of animal research and results from human trials is as meaningless as comparing apples and oranges.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/DRA_SCHWARTZ
Associated Links:
Animals don’t need to be used in research because there are alternatives.

Most research is already carried out using these other methods. But we still need to use animals at some point. The living body is much more than just a collection of its parts; we need to understand how they interact. Humans can only be used in limited situations.
Scientists have strong ethical, economic and legal obligations to use animals in research only when necessary. As science progresses, it may be possible to reduce further the numbers of animals used in some areas. In other areas, the numbers of animals may increase.
The guiding principles in animal research today are called the three Rs: Refinement, to make sure animals suffer as little as possible; Reduction, to minimise the number of animals used; Replacement, to replace animals with non-animal techniques wherever possible;
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/SAGE78
Associated Links:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can now be used on humans to get the same level of information as invasive brain studies in animals.

IMAGE: WELLCOME IMAGES
Associated Links:
• The need for research on non-human primates in cognitive neuroscience
• Alternatives and replacements
Microdosing can replace animal safety tests.

If microdosing shows that certain potential medicines are not suitable, it should reduce the number of animals used because these compounds would not need to be further developed and tested. But compounds that look promising would need to go through development and testing involving animals.
Microdosing has limitations like any other method of testing. There is no guarantee that the body's reaction to a microdose will be the same as it is to a full dose. It is a relatively new method and has yet to be fully validated, although it looks promising.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KUTAYTANIR
Associated Links:
Vaccines and antibiotics have achieved nothing. Public health measures such as clean water and good sanitation are the solution to the problem of infectious disease.

Vaccines have virtually eradicated some ‘old’ diseases like TB, diphtheria and cholera in developed countries. Recent vaccination programmes, such has meningitis and MMR, have greatly reduced childhood infections. When vaccination is not taken up by a good majority the number of cases, of measles for instance, rises.
Smallpox was eradicated thanks largely to a worldwide vaccination programme and the World Health Organisation aims to eliminate polio worldwide by immunisation. Newer diseases such as HIV and many tropical diseases such as malaria will only be effectively tackled by vaccines.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MIKE_KIEV
Associated Links:
Many pointless, unnecessary animal experiments are carried out.

• The strict controls on animal research, in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, do not allow animals to be used to obtain information that is obtainable by other means.
• Research using animals is very expensive because the animals are costly to buy or breed, to house, and to care for, and the work itself is slow and labour intensive.
• Funds for biomedical research are limited, so each research proposal is rigorously assessed by panels of experts. Trivial, irrelevant or repetitive work will not attract funding.
IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CHRISSTEER
Associated Links:
Animal research is a cheap and easy option and is carried out for profit.

The high cost is largely due to the number of staff required to look after the animals’ welfare. Vets are on call 24/7 and all animal technicians must have months of specific training to look after the animals.
Associated Links:
Most research animals are cats, dogs or monkeys.

Dogs, because of the size and similarity of their organs, are important for the development of new surgical techniques and for the study of the heart, lungs and blood vessels. Cats are important in the study of hearing and brain function. The use of both cats and dogs is subject to particular controls which require that they are specially bred for research. Stray cats and dogs or lost pets are not used for research in Britain.
Some people believe that monkeys and apes (primates) are used in great numbers, but monkeys represent less than one in every 2,000 research animals. Apes are not used at all in the UK and Europe. Smaller primates such as macaques and marmosets are needed for research into very serious conditions such as AIDS and Alzheimer's disease.
Associated Links:
There are no laws or regulations protecting laboratory animals.

IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CHRISSTEER
Associated Links:
Researchers do not care about the well-being of laboratory animals.

Associated Links:
Laboratory animals suffer great pain and distress.

It is in researchers’ interests to make sure animals suffer as little as possible; stressed animals are less likely to produce reliable results. All animal research must pass an ethical evaluation which weighs up its pros and cons and decides whether it is justified. The research then has to be approved by Home Office Inspectors, who are all doctors or vets and who ensure that high welfare standards are applied.
Associated Links:
Animals are used for testing cosmetics.

Follow us: