Finding Animals for Research

摘要

Contrary to the impression conveyed in the news focus story "Dog dealers' days may be numbered" (D. Grimm, 26 February, p. 1076), the American Physiological Society endorses the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendation to replace Class B dealers. However, the article cited only half of the key sentence: "It is not necessary to continue to obtain random source dogs and cats from Class B dealers provided that alternative sources of animals with similar characteristics can continue to be assured" (emphasis added) [(1), p. 95]. The problem is that the alternatives available (donors, pounds, and commercial breeders) cannot currently replace Class B dealers. This is why the NAS panel recommended "that NIH undertake an effort to explore new potential sources of random source dogs and cats to meet important biomedical research needs" [(1), p. 7].