Special Lecture 2 To Which Extent And How Can Animal Experiments Be Replaced, Supplemented Or Modified In Pharmacological And Toxicological Research?

「l. Introduction」In various countries objections to animal experimentation differ consider-ably: there are some countries where such a problem does not (yet?) exist, like in many roman countries, and others, like Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland, with fanatic animal rights movements, often not to the benefit of animals, where animal experimentation is largely restricted by law, with tendencies to even abandon such studies. Furthermore, within a given country, people from rural areas or fishermen often have a different attitude toward animals than persons living in big cities. Those who own pets have different opinions than those who do not. Our personal feeling is that, in the long run, experimentation with animals will be declining and be restricted. This holds especially true for studies associated with pain and discomfort for the animals, which should be avoided and restricted as far as possible. However, we will have to face the fact that this will inevitably lead to more studies performed in humans, which will raise concern in another group of people, and it may cause many new problems.