Persuasion replaces coercion in animal experiments

[Guest guest]

10:28 05 July 02

 

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition

 

Persuasion is replacing coercion in animal experiments. Some lab animals are

being trained to take part in tests in their own time and in the security of

their own pens.

 

 

(Photo: FPG)

 

All it takes is a bit of patience and sensitivity, and animals will work

with you instead of against you, say the pioneers of this approach. Apart

from the obvious welfare benefits, such as not having to restrain or sedate

the animals, they say it makes tests easier to do and produces more reliable

results than if the animals are stressed.

 

Animal welfare organisations have cautiously welcomed the development and

hope the idea spreads, although they would still prefer animals not to be

used at all. " Although we promote refinement, it does make me feel

uncomfortable, the idea of training an animal to cooperate in an experiment

in which it will face harm and ultimately be killed, " says Maggie Jennings

of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

 

At Britain's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down,

Wiltshire, for instance, researchers are investigating the subtle

neurological effects of nerve agents like the organophosphate pesticide

diazinon, used in sheep dips. " We look at extremely low levels of nerve

agents to see if they disrupt sleep or brain electrical activity, " says a

senior researcher who prefers to remain anonymous to avoid being targeted by

animal-rights extremists.

 

Tiny transmitters are fitted to the monkeys so their brains' electrical

activity can be remotely monitored. They are then trained to do tasks such

as distinguishing between shapes on a touch-sensitive screen. Such tests are

traditionally done by taking the animal away from its own enclosure and

physically restraining it in the alien environment of a test chamber. " Now,

we take the behavioural test to the animals, " says the researcher.

 

 

Banana milkshakes

 

 

The animals can also become accustomed to their handlers, she says. " That

relationship is absolutely critical. " And they earn " luxuries " such as

banana milkshakes in return for their cooperation.

 

" They certainly look like they're enjoying themselves, " says the researcher.

" It's not for us to make these anthropomorphic judgments, but the animals

certainly have a choice not to do tests. We never force our primates to do

something. "

 

Pigs have also been trained to cooperate with researchers testing barrier

creams against chemical blister agents. In the past, they were sedated for

this. Now they learn, for example, to tolerate having biosensors held

against their skin to monitor reactions or moisture loss.

 

Viktor Reinhardt, a veteran primate researcher who now advises the Animal

Welfare Institute in Washington DC, backs the new trend. " It should be

encouraged everywhere, " he says. " If you work with an animal instead of

against it, it has no reason to struggle. "

 

In the early 1990s, Reinhardt taught rhesus macaques to present their arms

outside the cage for injections or taking blood samples. " I'm confident the

idea of training animals to cooperate in research procedures has already

taken off, and that it will become more accepted, " he says.

 

 

Andy Coghlan

 

 

 

For more exclusive news and expert analysis every week to New

Scientist print edition.