Alternatives

REAL SCIENTIFIC METHODS

Those with vested interests in animal experimentation claim that vivisection has been responsible for improvements in public health and progress in medicine. On the contrary, medical historians have shown the exact opposite to be the case. True scientific methods that are directly applicable to its misleading and contrary results, animal experimentation had rather than contributed anything worthwhile, continually bought about confusion and hindrance. Sadly, animal experimentation became the vogue early this century after the chemical/pharmaceutical companies realised the importance of a research method whose misleading and contradictory nature can provide malleable results that can conceal the dangerousness of their chemical products. Consequently, true scientific research methods that can provide accurate results are starved of much-needed funding, while billions are wasted on unscientific animal experiments.
Fortunately there are currently numerous research methods available that are truly scientific and not of the same haphazard nature as animal experimentation.

PREVENTION


We all know that prevention is better than a cure, don't we? So why don't the majority of us practice preventative health measures? Well one reason that could be that we are not given the information; there are no big campaigns to educate us. We see adverts for drugs on TV and in newspaper, to 'cure' headaches, hayfever, colds, etc. We do not see adverts for preventative health measures. The reason is, of course, financial. Whereas there is little money to be made from healthy people, the profits from selling pharmaceutical drugs run into billions of pounds each year.

We are all responsible for our own health and adopting a healthy lifestyle is vital. In the UK 50% of people will die from heart disease - as we know, the causes of heart disease are related to lifestlye and so it must stand to reason that heart disease is largely preventable. Cancer claims the lives of one in four people in the UK, yet 80% of cancers are related to lifestyle and enviromental factors and so are also preventable.

CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEYS


The single most important research method is the study of human disease in individuals and in specific populations. Clinical surveys use human volunteers, clinical case studies, autopsy reports, and statistical analysis linked with clinical observation of disease. This permits far more accurate observation and use of actual environmental factors related to human disease than is possible with unnaturally confined animals.

Pathology is the study of the diseases of the individual. Epidemiology is the study of the diseases of whole populations. How can we study the diseases that occur in humans? One of the most natural and immediate methods is that of observation. Observing that which occurs spontaneously is as great a number of human models as possible scattered throughout the world. The concept of epidemiology includes this kind of observation and is a method which permits the multiplication of individual observations by a sufficient number of times to form conclusions analogous to those which in the mechanical and physical sciences are called 'laws'.

This knowledge enables preventative measures to be taken against many diseases. For example, epidemiology demonstrated the necessity for sterile techniques in surgical operations.

Epidemiology has shown that there is a greater incidence of skin cancer in Europeans living in the tropics, connecting the illness to excessive exposure to ultraviolet light. In the 1960's, five thousand people agreed to take part in a study involving a series of clinical and laboratory examinations and replying to a questionnaire concerning their lifestyle, eating habits, tobacco and alcohol use, the amount of daily excercise etc. The conclusion? Those most at risk from heart disease are people who smoke, drink, eat too much animal fat, do not take enough excercise, are obese and suffer from high blood pressure. These risk factors are so well known today, we do not question them. We can all see the truth of these facts in our everyday lives. Epidemiological studies of cancer yield some interesting facts. It is surprising to realise how many conditions seem to cause cancer, but as none of these conditions gives rise to cancer in everyone exposed to them, one has to concluse that they may not be causal but may favour its emergence. How much is due to environmental factors, how much to genetic or racial factors? Breast cancer is common in North America and Europe, rare in China and Japan. Tumours of the central nervous system occur most frequently in Israel and are rare in Asia and Africa. We can see that it is not necessary, (or possible) to recreate the above studies in other animals in laboratory conditions. To help humans we need to study the diseases which occur in humans, and they are all around us, an invaluable source of information.

TISSUE AND CELL CULTURES


Single cells from human or animal tissues (for use in veterinary medicine) are grown outside the body after seperation from their original tissue or organ. Each generation of these cells breeds identical cells almost without limit, thus providing a constant supply of identical test materials that can be kept free of contamination for years. This level of accuracy is impossible with living, changing animals, and what is more important, by testing substances on cells of the same species of animal, you do not have the problem of species differences. These tests are extremely useful for toxicity and irritancy testing.

ORGAN CULTURES


Groups of cells from a single organ are grown in a feeding medium. The normal structure of the organ is retained, and the reactions and effects of substances upon a complete organ can be tested with results similar to those in an intact body. These cultures can be used in biochemistry, cancer research, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pharmacology, physiology, radiation, toxicity, and virus research.

Developments based on culture techniques have included discovering the mechanism of the growth of nerves, establishment of the number of chromosomes in the human cell, the discovery that Down's syndrome is due to genetic defect, studies of the activities of hormones, study of muscle physiology, and study of electrical activity of nerves.

NON-INVASIVE IMAGING
TECHNIQUES


The development of non-invasive devices, such as CAT, MRI, PET, and SPECT scans, has revolutionized clinical investigation. These devices permit the ongoing evaluation of human disease in human patients. For example, these scanning machines have been valuable in the early diagnosis and evaluation of Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and muscoloskeletal tumours, and they have also contributed to the body of knowledge in the basic sciences, such as physiology of vision.

GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
AND MASS SPECTROMETRY


These are methods used in the molecular analysis of such bodily fluids as blood, urine, and gastric fluids. Solutions are seperated through vaporisation into their basic elements and then identified by mass. These methods have proven very successful in vitamin and drug research, and in determining the type and amount of drugs taken in the case of an overdose.

THE AMES TEST


Invented by Dr. Bruce Ames of the University of California at Berkely, this in vitro test checks substances for carcinolenicity by using strains of the Salmonella bacteria, which produse cancer in humans and other mammals. The test takes 2-3 days and costs a few hundred dollars rather than the 2-3 years and US$150,000 required for typical animal tests.

PLACENTA


The human placenta, which is usually discarded after the birth of a child, can be used for practicing techniques of microvascular surgery, and for testing toxic side effects of chemicals, drugs, and pollutants. It provides a medium far superior to animal tissues because it is human, and it's entirely without cost.

MECHANICAL MODELS


Sophisticated mechanical models are used as subjects for safety testing, such as car crash studies and tests of fireproof fabrics, and as teaching devices. Complex models are now available for use in medical and surgical training, and can provide reactions to many different drugs. A simulator has been created that includes a heart circulatory system, lungs, and a respiratory system, along with a means of testing responses to drugs and kidney functions.

QUANTUM PHARMACOLOGY


This is a computer based technique used in theoretical chemistry to study the molecular structure of drugs and their receptors in the body. By using existing knowledge it is now possible to predict from a drug's structure what its effect will be on any given target organ in humans. This can be extrapolated to the point where the actions of a new drug, as yet unsynthesised, can be studied.
Quantum pharmacology has been used in the studies of, for example, nerve transmitters, hormones, beta-blocking heart drugs, histamine, anti-depressants and anaesthetics, amongst many othes.

COMPUTERS AND MATHEMATICAL
MODELS


Developments in computer technology have made available a wide range of sophisticated programmes which can be used for research and training. They have made possible studies and predictions of drug actions of various organ systems, and allowed further developments based upon these predictions.

These systems 'fit' molecules of the various chemicals being tested into the computer's model of the chemical 'receptors' in the body, and predict the outcome.

Some programmes keep records of the makeup of known chemicals so that when the makeup of a new chemical is fed in, a comparison of the likely effects can be made.

Others allow simulation of the normal physiology of organs such as the heart, or respiratory control and kidney function.

Computer models of the human circulatory and respiratory systems are now used as teaching devices in medical schools. HUMTRN (pronounced HYOOM-tran) is a "living" everchanging computer data bank that provides access to 10 million bits of information about how a human body will react to any given substance.
It is programmed to eat, breathe, perspire, and age.

AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS


The primary use of these techniques is in the field of education, from primary school level right up to medical school and beyond. They include models,television, film, slides and audio/video tape. These allow repeated viewing, playback, and holding on a specific area of a demonstration.

This information was taken from Guardians Fact Sheet no. 11.
For further information contact
GUARDIANS
A Group Exposing Vivisection
P.O Box 59, Pasoe Vale South, VIC 3044
Email [email protected] 1

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