Blog-Wa, the Dog-Wa Blog

We meant to pass this on a while ago, but somehow it slipped through the cracks.

At Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other world-renowned research institutions, scientists envision a time in the near future when white mice, rats, rabbits, and dogs will no longer be used for scientific experiments.

To bring that day closer, they are developing complex living “microtissues” from cultured cells.  These microtissues might better replicate human organs and tissues.  So the science produced through their use would be superior to testing on animals.

Of course, some scientists remain adamant that testing on animals is critical to advancing science.  But if we can actually produce cells that more closely replicate human organs and tissues, then even those scientists would be likely to concede that there would be less reason to experiment on animals.

Another point, which is critical and often overlooked, is that animal testing does not necessarily lead to information applicable to human beings.  As the article we cited points out, there are drugs that benefit white mice quite a bit, but have little impact on humans.  And vice versa, there are drugs that benefit humans but do not affect laboratory animals the same way.

We are all probably familiar with that famous quotation, variously attributed to Gandhi and Kant, that you can judge the moral development of a nation by its treatment of animals.  It would be nice to live in a world where our ethical concerns about the treatment of animals in laboratory experiments led us to develop better and kinder alternatives.  From our reading of this article, it isn’t clear that’s what is going on.  But hey, if the quest for better science happens to lead to more human treatment of animals, then we’ll take that too.