ANZCCART Australia
C/- The University of Adelaide
SA 5005 Australia
Phone: +618 8303 7585 Fax: +618 8303 7587 anzccart@adelaide.edu.au
ANZCCART New Zealand c/o The Royal Society of New Zealand PO Box 598 Wellington New Zealand Phone: +644-472 7421 Fax: +644-473 1841 anzccart@rsnz.org
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Replacement
Replacement
There are three important questions here:
What alternatives can be used instead of
higher order animals?
When is it appropriate scientifically to
use alternatives to higher order animals?
When is it not appropriate
scientifically to use alternatives to higher order animals?
What alternatives are available?
Non-animal alternatives
Computer models
Chemical models
Charts, diagrams, manikins and physical
models
Mathematical and statistical
models
Use of plants.
Alternatives derived from animals
Lower order animals:
micro-organisms
cells derived from invertebrates and
lower order vertebrates
intact invertebrates and lower order
vertebrates.
Higher order animals:
tissue culture using cells derived from
higher order animals
videos of procedures conducted on
animals to avoid repetition.
Human beings:
voluntarily donated human tissues (e.g. the
placenta and other tissues)
human volunteers.
When can alternatives to whole animals be used?
The answer is: when the alternative to animal use can
genuinely reveal new knowledge or demonstrate particular features of the
body organ or tissue or the whole body processes of interest. To date,
replacement alternatives have been used extensively in teaching and
during some stages of drug and cosmetic testing, but
less extensively during research designed to understand how the body as a
whole works. Computer, mathematical and other models are helpful for
analysing, presenting or accessing knowledge we have already obtained about
body processes, but they are less helpful in generating new knowledge.
When is it not appropriate to use alternatives to whole
animals?
When chemical or computer or physical or
mathematical models cannot reveal relevant new knowledge or demonstrate the
known fact or principle.
When microbial or tissue cultures cannot
be applied to achieve the desired goals.
When the processes to be studied or demonstrated
cannot be effectively modelled using non-vertebrate or lower vertebrate
animals.
When the processes to be studied or
demonstrated can only be modelled effectively using the chosen species
of higher order animal - e.g. when functions in the particular chosen
species (e.g. sheep) closely parallel functions in another animal species
(e.g. goats, cattle) or in human beings.
When the processes to be studied relate
explicitly to the chosen species of higher order animal (e.g. studies of
pregnant sheep to reduce death or sickness in newborn lambs).
