THE USE OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS
1
1030 questionnaires were completed from among twenty-five sent out to major U.K. and foreign owned pharmaceutical companies selected (with care, presumably) by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. The Medicines Act covers many aspects of drug manufacture other than the introduction of novel compounds and Britain’s pharmacies are supplied by many more than twenty-five firms. A survey of one end of the market cannot give the whole picture. Furthermore, the Medicines Commission and its subsidiary bodies have been reticent about "successes"-i.e., faults found and prevented in manufacturing practices or in research and development. The cost-benefit equation becomes insoluble without this information. The Act has not prevented every side-effect: it is not 10007o effective. Hartley and Maynard 1 reckon that it costs £ 30 million a year to operate (or up to 85 million on less conservative estimates) and takes up the time of 1000 staff in the industry and in the Medicines Division of the D.H.S.S. Ultimately, all costs are borne by the taxpayer. THE USE OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS As THE anti-vivisection lobby goes from strength to strength (an estimated 5000 supporters took part in a vociferous protest at a Ministry of Defence laboratory on Porton Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, on April 24), the council of the Institute of Biology has issued a defence of the scientific position. The substance of the statement, published in Biologistl is as follows: Since time immemorial man has used higher vertebrates as working animals, for sport, and as sources of food, clothing, and adornment. The possibility of the misuse of living creatures in the pursuit of scientific knowledge troubles many, including biologists, especially when it may be supposed that any animal so used has a developed sensation of pain and an understanding of its situation. It is only by the use of living animals, however, that biological processes can be observed-cell cultures are limited in their reflection of complex variables. The need for knowledge, which may be used in the end to avoid or relieve suffering in man or animal, compels the scientist to reply on the laboratory animal. Alternative techniques have replaced the use of animals on occasion, in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, for example, thus bearing witness to the benevolence of the scientist wherever possible. The possibility of finding alternative methods of testing is an attitude endorsed by the Institute, but the search itself may demand extensive animal experimentation. The Institute accepts that animals are needed in the course of scientific investigation and they must continue to be available. The Home Office regularly reminds licensees that they must first be sure that alternative methods cannot be used, and only then may experiments humanely proceed. SOCLAL SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE THE newest and smallest of Britain’s five Research Councils is undergoing a major reorganisation; its budget for 1982-83 has been cut by 5% to f20’ 9 million on top of a 20% reduction since 1979; and Lord Rothschild is reviewing its work with a remit from the Secretary of State for Education and Science that looks suspiciously like an invitation to prune radically if not axe altogether. Despite all this, the Social Science Research Council willingly publicises its decisions, policies, and details of grants given and reports received. 2 The eight new committees begin their work in June, with Prof Raymond Illsley of the Institute of Medical Sociology in Aberdeen as chairman of one of them, the Social Affairs Committee. Research on ageing will be one of Professor Illsley’s priorities. Addiction research is also an S.S.R.C. interest, one research group supported by f350 000 over five years having been given initial approval. Elsewhere, the involvement of the S.S.R.C. in health-related research is not much in evidence. The forty-two research grants made in the second half of 1981 included money for the study of health beliefs of women in different social classes and of migrant workers in the N.H.S., together with £ 17 825 for a pilot project on the Anglo-Netherlands bill market and English export finance from 1460 to 1740. 1. Biologist 1982; 29: 1. 2. SSRC Newsletter 1982 (March), no. 45. The Times Health Supplement The newspaper, which ran for some 5 months before its closure by Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Times Newspapers Limited, has been bought by Pergamon Press Limited, which is chaired by Mr Robert Maxwell. The paper will continue to be under the editorship of Miss Jill Turner and will be called The Health Services. It will be published fortnightly from May 14. Muscular Dystrophy Group of Great Britain Prof. Arthur Buller, formerly chief scientist at the Department of Health and Social Security and dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Bristol, has been appointed research development director of the Muscular Dystrophy Group. A special university lecture on The Life and Death of Health Centres 1920-1955 will be given by Dr Charles Webster at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1, on May 5 at 5 P.M. Correction Silica Stones in the Urinary Bladder.—Table II of this paper by Dr D. A. Levison and his colleagues (March 27, p. 704) contained errors in columns 3 and 4. The correct version appears below: TABLE II-QUANTITIES OF MAGNESIUM TRISILICATE AND SILICA INGESTED AND SILICA EXCRETED IN URINE BY OUR PATIENT . I -, Diary of the Week MAY 2 TO 8 Tuesday, 4th LONDON MEDICAL GROUP 5.45 P.M. (University College Hospital, Gower Street, London WC1) Symposium.- Psychosurgery : Do the Risks Outweigh the Benefits? BRITISH POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL FOUNDATION 5 P.M. (Windeyer Building, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London W1P 7PN) Prof. H. E. de Wardener: The Natriuretic Hormone and Hypertension (Sandoz Foundation lecture). Wednesday, 5th INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY, St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ 4.45 P.M. Dr C. D. Catterall: Cutaneous Manifestations of Sexually-transmitted Diseases. ROYAL MASONIC HOSPITAL, Ravenscourt Park, London W6 OTN 7 P.M. Mr J. 0. Robinson: Gastric Surgery. ROYAL POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 OHS 10.15 A.M. (Stamp lecture theatre) Medical staff round. ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF 5 P.M. Dr P. Bright-Asare (Chicago): Perspectives in the Treatment of Gastric Ulcer. ASSURANCE MEDICAL SOCIETY, 11 Chandos Street, London Wl 5 P.M. Dr I. McLain Baird: Height and Weight Surveys in Britain and Risk Factors in Coronary Heart Disease. NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITALAND CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTRE, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ 1 P.M. Dr D. Samson: Sickle Cell and Associate Disease Problems. CHACE POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Chase Farm Hospital, The Ridgeway, Enfield EN2 8JL I P.M. Dr L. Capel: Hay Fever. MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY, The University, Manchester MI3 9PL 5 P.M. Prof. J. M. Cameron: The Medico-legal Interpretation of the Turin Shroud. Thursday, 6th ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PN 5.30 P.M. Prof. H. Spoendlin: The Auditory Neurons in Normal and Pathological Conditions (Joseph Toynbee memorial lecture). ST MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG 5.15 P.M. Prof. Robert Williamson: Cloned Genes in Antenatal Diagnosis. LONDON MEDICAL GROUP 6.15 P.M. (Westminster Hospital, Horseferry Road, London SW SympoSlum.- The Ethics of Cancer Treatment.
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Transcript of THE USE OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS
1030
questionnaires were completed from among twenty-five sent out tomajor U.K. and foreign owned pharmaceutical companies selected(with care, presumably) by the Association of the BritishPharmaceutical Industry. The Medicines Act covers many aspectsof drug manufacture other than the introduction of novel
compounds and Britain’s pharmacies are supplied by many morethan twenty-five firms. A survey of one end of the market cannotgive the whole picture. Furthermore, the Medicines Commissionand its subsidiary bodies have been reticent about "successes"-i.e.,faults found and prevented in manufacturing practices or inresearch and development. The cost-benefit equation becomesinsoluble without this information. The Act has not preventedevery side-effect: it is not 10007o effective. Hartley and Maynard 1reckon that it costs £ 30 million a year to operate (or up to 85 millionon less conservative estimates) and takes up the time of 1000 staff inthe industry and in the Medicines Division of the D.H.S.S.
Ultimately, all costs are borne by the taxpayer.
THE USE OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS
As THE anti-vivisection lobby goes from strength to strength (anestimated 5000 supporters took part in a vociferous protest at a
Ministry of Defence laboratory on Porton Down, near Salisbury,Wiltshire, on April 24), the council of the Institute of Biology hasissued a defence of the scientific position. The substance of thestatement, published in Biologistl is as follows:Since time immemorial man has used higher vertebrates as
working animals, for sport, and as sources of food, clothing, andadornment. The possibility of the misuse of living creatures in thepursuit of scientific knowledge troubles many, including biologists,especially when it may be supposed that any animal so used has adeveloped sensation of pain and an understanding of its situation. Itis only by the use of living animals, however, that biologicalprocesses can be observed-cell cultures are limited in theirreflection of complex variables. The need for knowledge, whichmay be used in the end to avoid or relieve suffering in man or animal,compels the scientist to reply on the laboratory animal. Alternativetechniques have replaced the use of animals on occasion, in thediagnosis of tuberculosis, for example, thus bearing witness to thebenevolence of the scientist wherever possible. The possibility offinding alternative methods of testing is an attitude endorsed by theInstitute, but the search itself may demand extensive animal
experimentation. The Institute accepts that animals are needed inthe course of scientific investigation and they must continue to beavailable. The Home Office regularly reminds licensees that theymust first be sure that alternative methods cannot be used, and onlythen may experiments humanely proceed.
SOCLAL SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE
THE newest and smallest of Britain’s five Research Councils is
undergoing a major reorganisation; its budget for 1982-83 has beencut by 5% to f20’ 9 million on top of a 20% reduction since 1979;and Lord Rothschild is reviewing its work with a remit from theSecretary of State for Education and Science that looks suspiciouslylike an invitation to prune radically if not axe altogether. Despite allthis, the Social Science Research Council willingly publicises itsdecisions, policies, and details of grants given and reports received. 2The eight new committees begin their work in June, with ProfRaymond Illsley of the Institute of Medical Sociology in Aberdeenas chairman of one of them, the Social Affairs Committee. Researchon ageing will be one of Professor Illsley’s priorities. Addictionresearch is also an S.S.R.C. interest, one research group supportedby f350 000 over five years having been given initial approval.Elsewhere, the involvement of the S.S.R.C. in health-relatedresearch is not much in evidence. The forty-two research grantsmade in the second half of 1981 included money for the study ofhealth beliefs of women in different social classes and of migrantworkers in the N.H.S., together with £ 17 825 for a pilot project onthe Anglo-Netherlands bill market and English export finance from1460 to 1740.
1. Biologist 1982; 29: 1.2. SSRC Newsletter 1982 (March), no. 45.
The Times Health SupplementThe newspaper, which ran for some 5 months before its closure by
Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Times Newspapers Limited, hasbeen bought by Pergamon Press Limited, which is chaired by MrRobert Maxwell. The paper will continue to be under the editorshipof Miss Jill Turner and will be called The Health Services. It will bepublished fortnightly from May 14.Muscular Dystrophy Group of Great Britain
Prof. Arthur Buller, formerly chief scientist at the Department ofHealth and Social Security and dean of the Faculty of Medicine,University of Bristol, has been appointed research developmentdirector of the Muscular Dystrophy Group.
A special university lecture on The Life and Death of Health Centres1920-1955 will be given by Dr Charles Webster at the London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1, on May 5 at5 P.M.
Correction
Silica Stones in the Urinary Bladder.—Table II of this paper by Dr D. A.Levison and his colleagues (March 27, p. 704) contained errors in columns 3and 4. The correct version appears below:
TABLE II-QUANTITIES OF MAGNESIUM TRISILICATE AND SILICAINGESTED AND SILICA EXCRETED IN URINE BY OUR PATIENT
. I -,
Diary of the WeekMAY 2 TO 8
Tuesday, 4thLONDON MEDICAL GROUP
5.45 P.M. (University College Hospital, Gower Street, London WC1) Symposium.-Psychosurgery : Do the Risks Outweigh the Benefits?
BRITISH POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL FOUNDATION5 P.M. (Windeyer Building, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London W1P 7PN)
Prof. H. E. de Wardener: The Natriuretic Hormone and Hypertension(Sandoz Foundation lecture).
Wednesday, 5thINSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY, St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle
Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ4.45 P.M. Dr C. D. Catterall: Cutaneous Manifestations of Sexually-transmitted
Diseases.ROYAL MASONIC HOSPITAL, Ravenscourt Park, London W6 OTN
7 P.M. Mr J. 0. Robinson: Gastric Surgery.ROYAL POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane
Road, London W12 OHS10.15 A.M. (Stamp lecture theatre) Medical staff round.
ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Rowland Hill Street, London.
NW3 2PF5 P.M. Dr P. Bright-Asare (Chicago): Perspectives in the Treatment of Gastric Ulcer.
ASSURANCE MEDICAL SOCIETY, 11 Chandos Street, London Wl5 P.M. Dr I. McLain Baird: Height and Weight Surveys in Britain and Risk Factors in
Coronary Heart Disease.NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITALAND CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTRE, Watford
Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ1 P.M. Dr D. Samson: Sickle Cell and Associate Disease Problems.
CHACE POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Chase Farm Hospital, TheRidgeway, Enfield EN2 8JL
I P.M. Dr L. Capel: Hay Fever.MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY, The University, Manchester MI3 9PL
5 P.M. Prof. J. M. Cameron: The Medico-legal Interpretation of the Turin Shroud.
Thursday, 6thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London
WC2A 3PN5.30 P.M. Prof. H. Spoendlin: The Auditory Neurons in Normal and Pathological
Conditions (Joseph Toynbee memorial lecture).ST MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG
5.15 P.M. Prof. Robert Williamson: Cloned Genes in Antenatal Diagnosis.LONDON MEDICAL GROUP6.15 P.M. (Westminster Hospital, Horseferry Road, London SW SympoSlum.- The
Ethics of Cancer Treatment.
