Questions about animal research can be difficult to answer. This report is meant to help you decide how YOU will answer these questions. It details how animal models fit into the larger scheme of biomedical research, some of the advances in biomedical research that have been gained because of animals, and the regulations that protect animals and manage their use. This report will help you to understand the important role animals play in biomedical research and to decide whether the benefits of animal research justify the use of animals as research subjects.

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
  • Sidebar: Why Use Animals?
• A Theory of Germs
  • Sidebar: Overcoming Disease
• Vaccines
  • Sidebar: Penguins!
• Understanding Epilepsy
• Surgical Advancements
• Cancer Therapies
• The Concept of Basic Research
• Safety Testing
  • Sidebar: “Cruelty Free”—What Does It Mean?
• Regulation of Animal Research
• Continuing Efforts to More Efficiently Use Laboratory Animals
  • The 3 Rs in Action
• Conclusion
• Resources and Web Links
• The National Academies
• Committee to Update Science, Medicine, and Animals
• Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Council
• Acknowledgements

The development of this report was supported by Grant No. RR11611 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and its publication and dissemination were supported by the Presidents’ Circle Communications Initiative of the National Academies, Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139, Task Order 135 from the NIH, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, American Psychological Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, Society of Toxicology, Merck Research Laboratories, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.