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Overview: The APS and the Humane Use of Animals in Research
The American Physiological Society supports the humane use of animals in medical research. Medical research is beneficial to humans as well as other animals, and certain kinds of questions can only be answered through animal studies. Physiologists study the organs and systems of the body and therefore rely heavily on animal models for their research. Researchers can and do answer many important questions through research using molecules, genes, cells, and computers. But to see how the body as a whole is affected, there must also be animal studies.
The APS believes that animal research should be conducted humanely, and that such research itself is the most humane response to human suffering from disease. It would be unethical to experiment on human patients by withholding a known treatment in favor of one which may or may not work or by administering untested drugs. Animal research makes it possible to study a disease in a controlled environment (i.e., in animals whose bodies resemble humans in relevant ways) in order to understand what happens and to test whether a new treatment is likely to be safe and effective.
Medical and scientific experts agree that whole-animal studies are essential to medical progress. In 1994, the U.S. Public Health Service issued a statement on The Importance of Animals in Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
The APS believes that the use of animals is necessary for the proper teaching of students of the biomedical sciences. (See “On Animals in Teaching”). The APS also believes that both research and the care of laboratory animals must take place according to the highest legal and ethical standards. (See “APS Guiding Principles for the Care and Use of Animals” and “FASEB Statement of Principles for the Use of Animals in Research and Education”). These documents reference the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which has been the key reference since 1963 for researchers (both US and international) funded by the National Institutes of Health. The Society also seeks every opportunity to support and promote these standards. For example, all APS journals insist that research findings involving animal subjects must conform to the relevant standards for humane care and use of animals in order to be published.
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