BIOETHICS By: Renezel Joy M. Patriarca § The first federal law regulating animal research was the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act passed by Congress in 1966. This law covered the transport, sale, and handling of animals and provided for licensing of animal dealers to prevent pet theft and their sale to research facilities. The original act covered dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits. This act was passed with the help of the Animal Welfare Institute, an activist group led by Christine Stevens, which advocated more humane animal practices in laboratories. § It is the purpose of this Act to protect and promote the welfare of all animals in the Philippines by supervising and regulating the establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating or training of all animals either as objects of trade or as household pets. § 10 SECTIONS § Section 6. The Animal Welfare Act of 1998 prohibits the maltreatment or use of animals in research or experiments that are not expressly authorized by the Committee on Animal Welfare. Also provides that when an animal is killed after it has been used in authorized research or experiments, this must be done by humane procedure (defined as the most scientific methods available as determined by the Committee). § Section 8. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction by final judgment, be punished by imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than two (2) years or a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) nor more than Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) or both at the discretion of the Court. If the violation is committed by a juridical person, the officer responsible therefor shall serve the imprisonment when imposed. If the violation is committed by an alien, he or she shall be immediately deported after service of sentence without any further proceedings. § Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research 1. Respect for animals' dignity 2. Responsibility for considering options (Replace) 3. The principle of proportionality: responsibility for considering and balancing suffering and benefit 4. Responsibility for considering reducing the number of animals (Reduce) 5. Responsibility for minimizing the risk of suffering and improving animal welfare (Refine) 6. Responsibility for maintaining biological diversity 7. Responsibility when intervening in a habitat 8. Responsibility for openness and sharing of data and material 9. Requirement of expertise on animals 10. Requirement of due care § Animals have been used repeatedly throughout the history of biomedical research. Early Greek physician-scientists, such as Aristotle, (384 – 322 BC) and Erasistratus, (304 – 258 BC), performed experiments on living animals. Likewise, Galen (129 – 199 / 217 AD), a Greek physician who practiced in Rome and was a giant in the history of medicine, conducted animal experiments to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), an Arab physician in twelfth century Moorish Spain, introduced animal testing as an experimental method for testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients. § According to Humane Society International, refers to procedures performed on living animals for purposes of research into basic biology and diseases, assessing the effectiveness of new medicinal products, and testing the human health and/or environmental safety of consumer and industry products such as cosmetics, household cleaners, food additives, pharmaceuticals and industrial/agrochemicals. All procedures, even those classified as “mild,” have the potential to cause the animals physical as well as psychological distress and suffering. Most animals are killed at the end of an experiment, but some may be re-used in subsequent experiments. § Many different species are used around the world, but the most common include mice, fish, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, farm animals, birds, cats, dogs, mini-pigs, and non-human primates (monkeys, and in some countries, chimpanzees). •Forced chemical exposure in toxicity testing, which can include oral force-feeding, forced inhalation, skin or injection into the abdomen, muscle, etc. •Exposure to drugs, chemicals or infectious disease at levels that cause illness, pain and distress, or death •Genetic manipulation, e.g., addition or “knocking out” of one or more genes •Ear-notching and tail-clipping for identification •Short periods of physical restraint for observation or examination •Prolonged periods of physical restraint •Food and water deprivation •Surgical procedures followed by recovery •Infliction of wounds, burns and other injuries to study healing •Infliction of pain to study its physiology and treatment •Behavioral experiments designed to cause distress, e.g., electric shock or forced swimming •Other manipulations to create “animal models” of human diseases ranging from cancer to stroke to depression •Killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means § In vitro testing (tests done on human cells or tissue in a petri dish) offer opportunities to reduce or replace animal testing. § Technological advancements in 3D printing allow the possibility for tissue bioprinting. Some scientist are working to bioprint a liver that can test the toxicity of a drug. § Artificial human skin can be made from sheets of human skin cells grown in test tubes or plastic wells and may produce more useful results than testing chemicals on animal skin. § Animal testing contributes to life-saving cures and treatments. § Animals often make better research subjects than human beings because of their shorter life cycles § Animals themselves benefit from the results of animal testing. § Animals must be used in cases when ethical considerations prevent the use of human subjects. § There is no adequate alternative to testing on a living, wholebody system. § Animal testing is cruel and inhumane. § Animals are very different from human beings and therefore make poor test subjects. § Drugs that pass animal tests are not necessarily safe. § Animal tests may mislead researchers into ignoring potential cures and treatments. § Animal tests do not reliably predict results in human beings. § AKHTAR, A. (2015). The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal. Special Section: Moving Forward in Animal Research Ethics, 407-4019 § Congress of the Philippines. (1998, February). Republic Act No. 8485; An Act to Promote Animal Welfare in the Philippines, Otherwise Known As “The Animal Welfare Act of 1998” https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1998/02/11/republic-actno-8485/ § The Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT). Guidelines for research ethics in science and technology (2007) 2016. Oslo. https://www.hsi.org/newsmedia/about/#:~:text=What%20types%20of%20animals%20are,in%20some%20c ountries%2C%20chimpanzees).
