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Australasian Human Research Ethics Consultancy Services Pty Ltd (AHRECS)

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Animal Welfare

Small experimental mouse is on the laboratory researcher's hand. Concept - laboratory animals, testing drugs, vaccines. Research on laboratory animals

(Colombia) Colombia considers ban on most research and education using live animals – Nature (Amanda Heidt | September 2023)

Some may regard this move as problematic and making safe health treatments harder.  Others may think this is a logical next step given the general public’s interest/concern about animals in scientific work.   But with this move, Colombia is considering a step not otherwise seen globally.   This debate and the movements with the bills are stoking contention between the parties. The rest of the world can only watch and wonder if something similar might be on the cards for their jurisdiction.

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Graphic about animal scientific work.

What’s worse than a cruel animal experiment? A cruel and fake animal experiment – Vox (Marina Bolotnikova | July 2023)

This item published in Vox raises an important question for the research ethics review of animal research.  In addition to committees focusing on Replacement, Refinement and Reduction, should there be a question of the work’s relationship to essential human health/life matters?  As well as presumably animal welfare/health/life.  It appears that would be in step with community expectations.

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A cartoon of gloved hands holding a syringe and drug vial in front of a line of lab animals.

(Colombia/US) NIH defunds Colombian research facility that allegedly abused monkeys – Science (Phie Jacobs | July 2023)

It is fantastic to see a major research funding body like the NIH taking serious action against an animal housing facility because of welfare and ethics concerns. While some may feel that the time taken was too long, it is important to recognise the significance of the step they took. Housing and breeding facilities in other jurisdictions should take note of the implications and consequences of failing to meet welfare and ethical expectations.

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Artistically worn US flag

(US) Watchdog group calls for federal investigation of UW regarding research misconduct – Wyoming Public Media (Jeff Victor | May 2023)

This research integrity and animal ethics story from the United States is a stark example of how institutional conflicts of interest undermined the speed and credibility of research misconduct investigations and retraction processes.  Too often, concerns about the potential impact on funding and reputation trump action on publicly penalising misconduct and correcting the scientific record.  This is why the team at AHRECS believe misconduct and retractions need to be the remit of an independent national body that isn’t compromised by local finding and reputational concerns.

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A rat in a wire cage

(USA) “Unapproved euthanasia” of rats in neuroscience study leads to retraction – Reaction Watch (Ellie Kincaid | April 2023)

Breaches of ethical standards (both animal and human) aren’t just a matter for the relevant institutional ethics committee, it can also represent a research integrity matter and potentially research misconduct.  National standards, such as the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, specifically indicate that a breach of ethical standards can be a research integrity matter.  Institutional research ethics breach and complaint processes must incorporate links and interoperation with the institution’s research integrity breach processes. 

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Cat scientists looking into a testing room, where a mallet is poised to smack down on anyone eating a piece of cheese. With the sign above "BETTER MOUSE TRAP INC".

Friday afternoon’s funny – Is this really science?

Generally, it is not the role of an ethics committee (human or animal) to discuss methodological matters, but hopefully, if confronted with a research project that looked like this humorous Don Mayne cartoon, members would query whether the project was valid scientific research.  More could be said about corporate research and the degree to which corporate researchers have a predator/prey relationship with the research subjects/participants. 

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Animal Welfare Sign

Addressing the Problematic Past of Animal Behavior Research – The Scientist (Holly Root-Gutteridge & Anna Korzeniowska | April 2023)

A sanitised version of these animal behaviour experiments are well known, but the gruesome details of the actual work would be shocking and distressing to most people. This piece in The Scientist take a look at these details, and reflects that were they to be conducted now they are unlikely to be approved by an Animal Ethics Committee.  It is unlikely that even the strongest proponents of animal research would consider this work to be acceptable.  As this piece observes, we now know that animals that endure cruelty and serious pain do not react or behave naturally, thus invalidating the whole point of the research.  

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