Book 3: Foreword to the first edition

The use of laboratory animals for research, teaching and the testing of medicines, medical appliances and consumer products is a controversial and difficult issue in modern society.

In 1987 Jenny Remfrey1 of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare wrote: "These days, scientists are subject to abuse and attacks from groups of protesters who accuse them of cruel exploitation" and questioned further "Are these attacks based on matters of fact or on questions of attitudes and ethical judgements? How seriously should scientists take them? How should they respond?"

All of these issues are challenging to science and scientists. They pose questions such as the following: Is the welfare of laboratory animals being neglected? Is it being ignored? Are our scientists committing the sins of which they are being accused?

Since the mid-1970s emerging local debate on these matters and a direc-tive from the Medical Research Council led to the institution of an ethical review process and the formal appointment of Animal Ethics Committees at our universities and research institutions.

The inclusion of notes on animal experimentation in early Ethical Consideration documents published by the Medical Research Council in 1979,2 and in subsequent revisions of this document in 19873 and 1993,4 have served to sensitise biomedical scientists to the interests and welfare of animals used for research.

In 1990 the first National Code for Animal Use in Research, Education, Diagnosis and Testing of Drugs and Related Substances was promulgated by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Jacob de Villiers, to promote the rational and humane use of laboratory animals and to establish a uniform system of internal control in scientific institutions, and to mandate that 'Animal Ethics Committees' shall control the use and care of experimental animals in research institutions.

The above Code is soon to be superseded by a new revised Code of Practice. This is currently being drafted by a task group appointed by the Standards Division of the South African Bureau of Standards to set stan-dards and practices in animal experimentation that comply with current international norms. It should be consulted as a reference standard which encompasses all aspects of the care and use of laboratory animals. It also specifies the responsibilities of investigators, institutions and their Ethics Committees in managing animal-based teaching and research.

The role of institutional Animal Ethics Committees is to provide support to investigators in promoting laboratory animal welfare and to help them resolve ethical issues which may arise from their animal studies.

It is also to promote the use of ethical analysis, to increase awareness of the interests of laboratory animals and their welfare needs, to develop initiatives which will lead to the widest application of the 'three R' principles of Humane Experimental Technique, of Russell and Burch, 6 namely replace-ment, reduction and refinement, and to ensure that the use of animals in an experiment is justified by the relevance of the problems being studied and the likelihood of successful outcomes.

There is also the challenge posed by the philosophical concept of Animal Rights and the influence it exerts in shaping public opinion. This concept needs to be understood and respected since it is aligned towards ending man's inhumanity towards animals in general and irrational and unproduc-tive animal experimentation.

Finally, the educational role of Animal Ethics Committees should serve to establish educational programmes for both animal users and the general public. This is to ensure that the former can appreciate the responsibility and imperatives concerned with animal experimentation, and the latter can be informed why and how animals are used in science and how this can be justified.

It is hoped that these guidelines will contribute to the conduct of animal research in a positive way.

Prof William Pick
MRC Interim President