Animal research: essential to saving babies' lives

摘要

Pound and Bracken's argument that much animal research is poorly designed, uncritically analysed, and wasteful should not be interpreted as support fortheanti-vivisectionists who would ban all animal experiments. The article implied that, in recentyears, animal research had not led directly to major advances in human health. However, three life saving treatments in neonatal medicine would not have been given ethical approval for clinical trial if high quality animal models had not shown evidence of efficacy. Prenatal corticosteroid and postnatal surfactant replacement depended on years of technically difficult animal experimentation before the first clinical trials. For both these treatments, the effects in animal models translated into improved survival for premature infants.