Alternatives to Animal Testing and Experimentation
Online ISSN : 2185-4726
Print ISSN : 1344-0411
ISSN-L : 1344-0411
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A Personal Perspective
Jon D. Richmond
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2006 Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages 150-154

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Abstract

The 6th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, to be held in Tokyo in August 2007, will provide an international showcase for ideas, case-studies, technologies and practices that will both enhance biomedical research and make better provision for animal welfare.
If you wonder why you or your colleagues should attend or participate, then read on.
General Principles
Although for some people animal welfare may be considered to be the primary reason to devise and implement improved research methods, the benefits to science and, through the resulting scientific progress, the benefits to society are the main reasons for the scientific community to celebrate and publicise its successes and continue to make progress in these areas.
It is generally accepted good animal welfare and good science are inseparable; that one of the hallmarks of good science is that scientifically valid, reproducible experiments seek to identify and eliminate unwanted variables; and that the primary effects directly attributable to the controlled experimental variables can be confused with secondary and tertiary changes if other variables or animal welfare issues are unrecognized or uncorrected.
I am clear in my own mind that what are often considered to be 'alternative methods' are in reality 'advanced methods': "alternative" suggests only the animal welfare issues are being addressed - "advanced" emphasises the scientific progress they represent and make possible.
Four key concepts have shaped my thinking in this area. …

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© 2006 Japanese Society for Alternative to Animal Experiments
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