Animal Emotions

Do animals think and feel?

by Marc Bekoff

"Mice are lousy models for clinical studies": Animal models in biomedical research

Publication bias leads to major overstatement of efficacy

Published on April 6, 2010 by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions

This post is simply a heads-up about a major new paper concerning the use of animal models in biomedical research. Many researchers themselves are concerned that animal models are not all that useful in biomedical research (see also easy to read books by Dr. Ray Greek) and this paper notes that there is a serious bias that can lead to overstatements about their efficacy in reports of animal stroke studies. There has been a call for the development of non-animal models (e.g. using human blood and tissues, non-invasive imaging) in research using vivisection that are not only more reliable but more ethical.

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Concerning the utility of animal models, Mark Davis, Director of the Stanford Institute of Immunity, Transplantation and Infection has been quoted as saying, "Mice are lousy models for clinical studies." Mice are among the 95% of animals (other rodents, birds, rabbits) who are not protected by the Federal Animal Welfare Act in the United States and that they are known to show empathy for other mice in pain means it's about time that this is factored into granting them more protection. Not only will mice and millions of other animals benefit but so too will humans who depend on biomedical research for their own well-being.