CMB2000/L10 Bioethics

Question 1

According to IPSOS MORI polls, what percentage of the public support animal use conditionally?

Answer 1

65% as long as there’s no alternative
68% if there’s no unnecessary suffering and there’s no alternative
Only 59% to help understand animal health and welfare with no alternative

Question 2

Define absolute dominion in morality.

Answer 2

All animal experiments are justified

Question 3

Define speciesism.

Answer 3

Assigning different values or rights to beings on the basis of their biological species rather than characteristics possessed

Question 4

Give 3 levels at which animals are used in drug development.

Answer 4

Computational (in silico)
Molecular
Cellular
Tissue and organ (in vitro)
Whole animal (in vivo)

Question 5

What does drug safety testing involve?

Answer 5

Limited in vitro and in vivo screens
Small number of animals (100s)

Question 6

Describe abolition in terms of morality.

Answer 6

Animal experiments are morally wrong

Question 7

Give 2 methods of achieving medical advances.

Answer 7

Human-based research (insulin)
Public health measures (improved sanitation & diet reduced polio mortality)
Population studies (causes of heart disease, strokes and cancer)

Question 8

Give 2 alternatives to animal research.

Answer 8

Computer models and analysis
Non-animal tests
Alternative medicine (traditional and homeopathy)

Question 9

Give 2 misleading experiments involving animal research.

Answer 9

Penicillin lethal in guinea pigs and cats
Thalidomide damaging to humans but not some animals

Question 10

What are the 3 ‘R’ principles?

Answer 10

Replacement
Reduction
Refinement

Question 11

Define replacement.

Answer 11

Replacing sentient animals with non-living or non-sentient alternatives

Question 12

Define reduction.

Answer 12

Reducing the number of animals to an absolute minimum without compromising precision of value

Question 13

Define refinement.

Answer 13

Decreasing the incidence & severity of inhumane procedures and enhancing welfare

Question 14

What is ASPA 1986?

Answer 14

Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986
Defines conditions in which harm is permissible

Question 15

What is the threshold for regulated procedures?

Answer 15

A procedure that causes pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm equivalent to or higher than that caused by insertion of a hypodermic needle for the purpose of research

Question 16

Which species are protected? (3)

Answer 16

Mammals, birds, reptiles
Fish, amphibians, cephalopods
Dogs, cats, horses & non-human primates

Question 17

Who and what does ASPA control?

Answer 17

Purpose of research via Project Licence (PPL)
People conducting research via Personal Licence (PIL)

Question 18

Where does ASPA control?

Answer 18

Places that research is done via Establishment Licence (EL)

Question 19

How does Home Office administer the Act of ASPA?

Answer 19

Considering licence applications
Giving advice
Providing various codes of practice
Enforcement via Inspectorate

Question 20

What is the role of the Animal Welfare Ethics Review Body (AWERB)?

Answer 20

Reviews all project applications before submitting to HO

Question 21

Give 2 sub-threshold procedures not covered by ASPA.

Answer 21

Recognised veterinary practice
Identification methods like tagging
Killing of an animal using approved methods

Question 22

When is animal use in research considered acceptable?

Answer 22

When benefits outweigh harms done to the animals

Question 23

How is cost-benefit analysis conducted for animal trials?

Answer 23

Assign values to costs (animals’ interests)
Assign value to benefits (research value)