From scientific curiosity to medical breakthrough
To understand why animal research is so important to biomedical progress, we need to remember that animal research doesn’t merely come into play when drugs are being tested for safety and efficacy. It’s relevant far earlier than this – in basic research, where the aim is to gain a better understanding of cellular and bodily processes, to discover new therapeutic targets in the first place.
A vivid example here is the revolutionary therapy for Parkinson’s disease called “deep brain stimulation”, which delivers fine-tuned electrical impulses to targeted areas of the brain. This extremely successful treatment would not exist today had the neurotransmitter dopamine not been discovered in the 1960s through basic science experiments on rats and dogs, and had the circuits involved in the release of dopamine not been deciphered in animal models. Later, basic researchers in collaboration with physicians discovered that the dopamine-producing cells in Parkinson’s patients die off. Ultimately, the interaction between animal lab and clinic meant it was possible to develop and refine deep brain stimulation – a technology that intervenes in the dopamine circuits and so suppresses Parkinson’s symptoms. This treatment is vital for more than 15,000 Parkinson’s patients in Switzerland alone, and of millions of sufferers worldwide.
That’s just one of countless examples showing how neither basic research nor animal research is an end in itself. Rather, animal testing is a means of gleaning knowledge, with the aim of advancing humanity and alleviating human suffering.
Under pressure in a one-sided debate
I’m somewhat envious of physicians, whose work for the good of people is, quite rightly, valued by society; as a researcher, I often feel I must defend my work involving animal research. Yet we animal researchers are not monsters who torture animals in the name of science. We’re driven by the desire to gain knowledge and enhance the wellbeing of humankind through our research, trying to make a small contribution to a better world. We have considerable empathy for the animals in our labs; in fact, their welfare is critical, because any pain or suffering would distort our research findings.
To obtain a licence for animal testing in Switzerland, there have long been steep administrative hurdles to overcome. And justifiably – to ensure that animal experiments meet stringent ethical and scientific standards, and to guarantee maximum animal welfare. But in recent years, in response to unrelenting pressure from animal welfare activists, the criteria for approving animal testing have been tightened yet again. This has landed a weighty administrative burden on us researchers. In my opinion, this tightening does not serve to further improve animal welfare; what it does is slow down and impair research. Indeed, research groups receive no additional resources to deal with this escalating bureaucracy. As a result, taxpayers’ money for research is used less efficiently, and cutting-edge research is in danger of migrating to countries with lower bureaucratic hurdles3. If this happens, crucial expertise will be lost to Switzerland.
