May 25, 2009
Limitations of Animal Tests
Experiments on animals are predicated on two key assumptions: that what is true for one animal species is most likely also true for others, and that humans are entitled to exploit other species for their benefit.
Yet such catastrophic drug failures—such as the recent TGN 1412 incident in the United Kingdom, which nearly cost some human study participants their lives—provide a sobering reminder that animal “models” often do not correctly predict real-world consequences for people, and that continued reliance on such 19th century approaches to scientific investigation may not be to our benefit.