The document discusses the use of animal subjects in research. It covers several topics including why animals are used in research, the responsibilities of researchers, types of pain experienced by animals, and categories of invasiveness for experiments involving animals. The main points are: - Animals are used in research due to their ability to be studied throughout their life span, for investigating whole animal systems, and because they are easily maintained in controlled environments. - Researchers have a scientific and ethical responsibility for the humane treatment of animals and minimizing pain and distress. - Animals can experience acute pain, chronic pain, discomfort, stress and distress during experiments. Signs of pain in animals include attraction to the area of pain and changes in

1. THE USE OF ANIMAL SUBJECTS IN RESEARCH
BY: Dr HA O’Neill

4. “Kindness and compassion
towards all living things is a mark
of a civilized society. Conversely,
cruelty, whether it is directed
against human beings or against
animals, is not the exclusive
province of any one culture or
community of people.”— César
Chávez.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Cesar Chavez was an American
labor leader and civil rights activist
who, with Dolores Huerta, co-
founded the National Farm
Workers Association in 1962

5. All who care for and use
animals in research, testing
and education must assume
responsibility for their general
welfare
WHAT IS HUMANESS?
Humaneness is
concerned with
reducing the sum total
of fear, discomfort and
pain that may be
caused to laboratory
animals
Researchers: have a scientific
and ethical responsibility for
the humane care of animals

6. In vitro
Early stage experiments
contain lab containers
biological tissue samples

7. • Animals have a short life cycle
• Can be studied throughout their whole life span or across
several generations
• Certain life processes cannot be investigated without involving
whole animal systems
• Animals are easily maintained and bred in controlled
environments (diet, temperature, lighting)
WHY DO WE USE ANIMALS?

8. LAIKA - The first dog in space

9. BY: Dr HA O’Neill

10. Experimentation with animals - major contributions to biological
knowledge and welfare of humans and animals
RESEARCH ANIMALS IN AGRICULTURE
Animal research in agricultural production field
feeding trials with farm animals to improve food production and
food security for the local human population

11. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
• Research institutions
• Scientists and their research staff
• Veterinarians, laboratory animal technicians
animal care personnel
• Federal and local government agencies
• Scientific organisations
The humane care and use of animal life
is a prime responsibility of persons who
use animals for experimental purposes.

12. WHY DO WE EVEN BOTHER?
• Emotional issue
• Government laws
• Moral obligations (What is moral for you is not
always moral for me…)
• The use of animals is a privilege and not a right

13. SO WHAT?
moral
ˈmɒr(ə)l/
adjective
1. concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour.
"the moral dimensions of medical intervention“
virtuous, good, righteous, upright, sinless"a very moral man"
2. holding or manifesting high principles for proper conduct.
"he prides himself on being a highly moral and ethical person"

14. SO WHAT?
Contingent inhumanity is
almost always detrimental to
the objectives of an experiment
since it introduces
psychological and physiological
disturbances which are likely to
confuse almost any biological
investigation

15. SPECIESISM
Some may argue
“there are no morally compelling reasons to
respect nonhuman animals”
But:
good reasons to conclude that the way most
animals suffer and die is unjust, and that
speciesism is totally unacceptable
Some humans are not naturally endowed with an instinct to be kind to
animals - a discipline for which a special education programme is necessary

16. THE FIVE FREEDOMS
Humans have a moral obligation to
respect all animals and to have
consideration for their capacity to
be sensitive to pain, to suffer and to
have a memory of such experience.

17. DO ANIMALS EXPERIENCE PAIN OR DISCOMFORT?
• All animals respond to stimuli
• These stimuli may be extreme or
prolonged
• cause discomfort
• distress/stress or pain
• Pain, or the threat of noxious stimuli
causes fear and/or anxiety in animals

18. THREE STAGES OF SUFFERING
I. Discomfort
• Poor condition, torpor, diminished appetite.
II. Stress/Distress
• Undesirable physical / mental state resulting from pain, anxiety, or fear.
• Acute form may be relieved by tranquillisers.
• Sustained distress
• requires environmental change
• behavioural conditioning
• does not respond to drug therapy
III. Pain

19. CATEGORIES OF PAIN
Acute Pain
Resulting from a traumatic surgical or infectious event that is abrupt
in onset
and relatively short in duration.
Generally alleviated by analgesics.

20. CATEGORIES OF PAIN
Chronic Pain
Results from long-standing physical
disorder, emotional distress (slow
in onset) and has a long duration
Seldom alleviated by analgesics
Responds to tranquillisers
combined with environmental and
behavioural conditioning

21. Sources of pain
Methods of animal procurement,
transportation,
nutrition, handling and restraint or from exposure to
injury, communicable disease or
parasitism

22. Signs of PAIN IN ANIMALS
1. attraction to the area of pain
2. increased skeletal muscle tone
3. altered electroencephalogram response
4. increased blood pressure and heart rate
5. pupillary dilation
6. change in the respiratory pattern

23. Actions to take
I. Precautions to prevent or reduce to a minimum any pain
II. Procedures, likely to cause fear, stress, discomfort or pain - performed
under anaesthesia
III. At the end - animals should be euthanised if they are likely to remain in
discomfort and pain.
IV. In no case shall any animal be subjected to severe pain which endures
V. Experiments which cannot be performed without unrelieved pain should
be abandoned.

24. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
In test procedures, cost and ease of application should not
overrule the need to prevent pain and distress

25. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
i. Animals should only be used when efforts to find an alternative
have failed
ii. Use the best methods on the smallest number to obtain valid
information
iii. Research must contribute and lead to the protection and
improvement of the health and welfare of either humans or animals, or
the conservation

26. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
Procedures to contest:
• Prey killing and fighting
• Burns, freezing injuries, fractures, and other types of trauma investigation
• Animals are not to be subjected to unnecessary pain or distress
• Inevitable pain or distress: minimize intensity and duration
• Withholding pre- and post-operative pain-relieving medication
• Paralysing and immobilising experiments where there is no reduction in the sensation
of pain
• Electric shock as negative reinforcement
• Extreme environmental conditions
• Stress and pain research

27. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
RULE:
An animal observed to be experiencing severe, unrelievable
pain should immediately be humanely euthanised, using a
method providing initial rapid unconsciousness
Acute (non-recovery) procedures involving animals anaesthetised and
insensitive to pain during an entire study are considered acceptable, as
are studies which involve no pain or distress

28. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
Procedures known to inflict excessive pain (unacceptable)
 utilisation of muscle relaxants or paralytics (curare and
curare-like) alone without anaesthetics, during surgical
procedures
 traumatising procedures involving crushing, burning, striking
or beating in unanaesthetised animals

29. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
Toxicological, biological testing, cancer
research and infectious disease
investigation:
• Processes causing irreversible pain or
distress
• alternative end points MUST be sought
• To satisfy both the requirements of the
study and the needs of the animal

30. THINGS THE ETHICS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS
• Trials involving withholding of food or water:
• Only short- term deprivation
• With no detrimental effect on the health of the animal
• Physical restraint:
• Only after alternative procedures are found inadequate
• Restrained animals: to receive exceptional care and
attention

31. Assess probable degree of pain and duration
Painful experiments for the instruction of students:
replacement, audio-visual techniques should be employed to
convey such information

32. CATEGORIES OF INVASINESS
Studies or experiments on most invertebrates, or on non-
entire living material
Category A
Tissue culture, tissues obtained at autopsy, necropsy or from
the slaughterhouse; eggs, protozoa and related single celled
organisms; studies or experiments involving containment,
incision or other invasive action on metazoa.

33. Assess probable degree of pain and duration
It is acknowledged that cephalopods and decapods have
nervous systems as well developed as some vertebrates and
therefore Categories of Invasiveness B, C, D, and E may apply.

34. CATEGORIES OF INVASINESS
On vertebrates: little or no discomfort or stress
Category B
• Commercial production management systems
• Skilful restraint of animals for physical examination
• Blood sampling; removing less than 0.5mm of tissue from the tip of the tail
of an animal to identify its genotype provided that it is carried out between
the ages of 3-4 weeks;
• IV or SC injection of material not causing
• Acute non-survival studies if animals are completely
• Short periods of food and/or water deprivation equivalent to periods of
abstinence in nature

35. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
On vertebrates involving minor stress or pain of short duration
Category C
• Cannulation or catheterisation of blood vessels or body cavities
under anaesthesia
• Minor surgical procedures under anaesthesia
• Short periods of restraint consistent with minimal distress
• Overnight food and/or water deprivation
• Tube feeding
• Behavioural experiments on awake animals (short-term stressful
restraint)

36. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
On vertebrates involving minor stress or pain of short duration
Category C
These would not cause significant change in coat appearance, ocular or nasal
discharges, abnormal respiratory or cardiac rate, reduction of faecal or urinary
output, isolation or crowding.
Comment: During or after Category C studies animals must not show self-
mutilation, anorexia, dehydration, hyperactivity, increased recumbency or
dormancy, increased vocalisation, aggressive-defensive behaviour or demonstrate
social withdrawal and selfisolation

37. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
Vertebrates with moderate to severe distress or discomfort
Category D
• Major surgical procedures under anaesthesia, permitting recovery, with adherence to
acceptable veterinary practices, adequate postoperative analgesia, fluid therapy and
required veterinary nursing practices;
• exposure of animals to noxious stimuli for periods not above the minimal level required
to demonstrate the required clinical effect;
• prolonged (several hours or more) periods of physical restraint applied in compliance
with standard guidelines;
• induction of behavioural stresses such as maternal deprivation, aggression, predator-
prey interactions, procedures which alter perceptual or motor functions which
consequently affect locomotion and behavioural activity

38. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
Vertebrates with moderate to severe distress or discomfort
Category D
• immunisation employing Freund's complete adjuvant administered
subcutaneously or intramuscularly;
• induction of an anatomical or physiological deficit that will result in pain or
distress;
• application of noxious stimuli from which escape is impossible;
• procedures that produce pain in which anaesthetics are not used, such as
toxicity testing with death as an end point; production of radiation sickness;
• certain injections, and stress and shock research that would result in pain
approaching the pain tolerance threshold

39. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
Vertebrates with moderate to severe distress or discomfort
Category D
Comment: Animals used in Category D studies should not have signs of prolonged
clinical distress, such as marked abnormalities in behavioural patterns or attitudes;
lack of grooming, dehydration, abnormal vocalisation, prolonged anorexia,
circulatory collapse, or decreased cardiac activity, increased signs of infectious
processes (peritonitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, diarrhoea, etc.). If the clinical
abnormalities cannot be alleviated, the animals should be destroyed using an
acceptable method of euthanasia

40. CATERGORIES OF INVASINESS
Inflicting severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of un-anaesthetised,
conscious animals
Category E
Such studies may not be confined to surgical practices
May include exposure to noxious stimuli or agents whose effects are unknown
Protocols where death is the end point and where the animals may experience pain and distress that
cannot be alleviated
Intradermal or foot pad injection using Freund's complete adjuvant
New biomedical experiments which have a high degree of invasiveness;
Behavioural studies about which the effects of the degree of distress are not known
Use of muscle relaxants or paralytic drugs without the use of anaesthetics
Burn or trauma infliction on un-anaesthetised animals;
a euthanasia method not approved by the South African Veterinary Council or related bodies.

41. Non Animal
Preliminary stage
Chemical,
Mechanical
Mathematical,
Computational
In vitro
Early stage experiments
contain lab containers
biological tissue samples
Animal model
Best predictors
In high order animals
MODELS TO USE