Animal tests on way out

Hi-tech alternatives gain traction

PRODDING animals in the name of science is destined to become an ethically questionable practice of the past, according to Tasmanian researchers.

Hi-tech alternatives to using animals in scientific experiments are emerging fast, and animal tests are expected to become obsolete within a couple of decades.

A new scientific review led by the University of Tasmania, published today, says there are already alternatives to testing animals — including virtual computer-generated organs and actual 3D organ-tissue models made in a lab.

Lead author Raj Eri, of the University of Tasmania’s School of Health Sciences, said animal ethics had become a bigger consideration in recent decades.

“Very slowly and steadily we will get rid of animals [in experiments],” Dr Eri said.

“The current feeling is that they are still important, but we can proceed to animal-free experimentation within a couple of decades.” The review is titled “Ethics of animal research in human disease remediation, its institutional teaching; and alternatives to animal experimentation”.

It analyses the main alternatives to animal testing — tissue cultures, organs on chips, tissue models, human blood derivatives and computer modelling.

Dr Eri said “organs on chips” was one of the most interesting developments, whereby the architecture and function of living organs are mimicked on microchips.

“We would not have dreamt about these things in the 1980s, but now supercomputers mean much more is possible,” he said.

Human-derived 3D tissue models are also evolving, which may even be better than animal models because they are made using human cells so better simulate human biology.

Dr Eri said that, decades ago, animal ethics were barely a consideration. But scientists now look for the most humane possible treatment of experimental animals.

“At UTAS we have a very good animal ethics committee. Whenever anyone wants to do any lab experiment, whether they are using a rat or a Tasmanian devil, it has to go through the committee to see if it is causing any harm.”

The report also looks at the history of animal experimentation, which was referred to by Aristotle in the 4th century BC.

It says animals were used in research for a long time before ethics were considered, with ethical guidelines formed only in the past few decades.

The earliest reference to animal ethics and welfare was in the 1800s, with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals organised in England in 1822.