Question: Do you feel laboratory experiments on animals should be stopped?

Joanna Cruden answered on 12 Jun 2012:

Great question and no real simple answer.. I first want to say that nobody actually want to carry out experiments on animals. It is done because we know there is a need and so many people’s lives have improved and/or extended thanks to research which has involved animals.

I think animals play a small but vital role in research, while we don’t look the same on the outside, we are very similar on the inside (our internal organs, nerve and circulatory systems).

If I did not truly believe there was a real need and benefit from having animals in research I would not be working with laboratory animals.

So to answer your question no it should not be stopped at the moment providing there is a genuine need for each experiment and that there is not needless reproduction of experiments.

While in the foreseeable future I do not think there is an alternative to animals I really do think we are slowly getting to a point where there will be an end to the use of them in experiments.

Research on animals is highly regulated and no experiments can proceed without a strong justification and ethical approval from both internal boards and external boards, including the Home Office.