WEBVTT - Could Technology Replace Animal Testing?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbam here. In January of eighteen, US Food and

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<v Speaker 1>Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced that the agency, after

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<v Speaker 1>an internal investigation, had permanently ended a nicotine addiction study

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<v Speaker 1>in which four squirrel monkeys had died. He said in

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<v Speaker 1>a statement on the FDA website, based on this team's findings,

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<v Speaker 1>it is clear the study was not consistent with the

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<v Speaker 1>agency's high animal welfare standards. In a September seventeen letter,

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<v Speaker 1>famous primate researcher and conservationist Jane Goodall had announced the

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<v Speaker 1>research as cruel and unnecessary, saying that the harmful effects

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<v Speaker 1>of smoking on humans are already known and could be

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<v Speaker 1>studied directly. In addition to ending the study, Gottlieb said

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<v Speaker 1>that the findings indicated that the FDA's protections for animal

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<v Speaker 1>research subjects quote may need to be strengthened in some

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<v Speaker 1>important areas. For that reason, he announced the launching of

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<v Speaker 1>an independent, third party investigation of all of the FDA's

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<v Speaker 1>animal research and the creation of a new animal welfare

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<v Speaker 1>counsel to oversee those studies going forward. Additionally, Gottlieb said

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<v Speaker 1>that the FDA would strengthen its commitment to replacing, reducing,

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<v Speaker 1>and or refining animal studies with new methods, and said

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<v Speaker 1>that animals should be used in studies only when there's

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<v Speaker 1>no other way to do research that's important for public health.

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<v Speaker 1>But even so, he said, it is important to recognize

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<v Speaker 1>that there are still many areas where animal research is

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<v Speaker 1>important and necessary. In particular, he cited the use of

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<v Speaker 1>primates as essential for the development of some critical vaccines

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<v Speaker 1>for human children. The research involving monkeys and the agency's

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<v Speaker 1>response highlighted what for many people is a discomforting reality.

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<v Speaker 1>Despite computer simulations and other tools available to today's researchers,

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<v Speaker 1>laboratories still use large numbers of animals as experimental subjects,

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<v Speaker 1>and an email, FDA spokesperson Tara G. Rabbin said that

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<v Speaker 1>the agency currently is utilizing eight thousand, one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty seven creatures of various sorts in research that includes

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<v Speaker 1>over seven thousand road two hundred and seventy primates, hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and nine fish, thirty one lago morphs, an order that

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<v Speaker 1>includes rabbits and hairs, twenty mustella that's animals such as

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<v Speaker 1>ferrets and weasels, twelve amphibians, six cows, and five goats,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's only a fraction of the animals subjected to

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<v Speaker 1>testing in other government, university, and private sector labs. A

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen report by the U S Department of Agriculture listed

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<v Speaker 1>over eight hundred and twenty thousand animals, including one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and thirty nine thousand rabbits, seventy one thousand primates, sixty

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dogs, and eighteen thousand cats, among other animals. Elizabeth Magner,

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<v Speaker 1>program manager for the New England Anti Vivisection Society, said

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<v Speaker 1>in an email that the most common toxicology tests, which

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<v Speaker 1>include oral and dermal sensitization and irritation testing, still cause

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of animals to suffer and die in the US

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<v Speaker 1>each year, and despite the FDA's position that animal testing

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<v Speaker 1>is still essential, there are increasing questions about its scientific value.

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<v Speaker 1>Drugs often produce results in animal tests that can't be

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<v Speaker 1>replicated with humans, and at least a few drugs that

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<v Speaker 1>were deemed safe in animal testing have turned out to

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<v Speaker 1>be dangerous or even lethal when taken by human subjects.

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<v Speaker 1>The use of animals and research goes back to ancient times,

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<v Speaker 1>when Greek physicians did exploratory surgery on live animals to

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<v Speaker 1>study their anatomy and physiology. In the early nineteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>rodents became a staple of laboratory research after the breeding

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<v Speaker 1>of a standard strain, the whist rat. Katherine will It,

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<v Speaker 1>director of Regulatory Toxicology, Risk Assessment and Alternatives for the

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<v Speaker 1>Humane Society of the United States, explains, when we do

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<v Speaker 1>research on animals, it's because a hundred years ago it

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<v Speaker 1>was the best thing people could think of. We've learned

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<v Speaker 1>that animals are not very good predictors of what happens

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<v Speaker 1>with people. But will It and others are hopeful that

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<v Speaker 1>animal testing will be replaced by alternatives that will not

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<v Speaker 1>only spare animals from suffering, but produce more reliable results

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<v Speaker 1>about human effects. One particularly promising technology is the development

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<v Speaker 1>of microchips lined with living human cells that enable them

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<v Speaker 1>to serve as simulated human organs. Geraldine A Hamilton's, President

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<v Speaker 1>and chief Scientific Officer of Emulate Incorporated, explained in an

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<v Speaker 1>email how the devices work. She said, each of Emulates

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<v Speaker 1>propriety organ chips, such as the lung, liver, brain, intestine,

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<v Speaker 1>or kidney, contains tiny hollow channels lined with tens of

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of living human cells and tissues, and is approximately

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<v Speaker 1>the size of a double a battery. An organ chip

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<v Speaker 1>is a living, micro engineered environment that recreates the natural

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<v Speaker 1>physiology and mechanical forces that sells experience within the human body.

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<v Speaker 1>She said that this technology can predict human responses with

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<v Speaker 1>greater precision and detail than modern cell culturing or animal

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<v Speaker 1>based experimental testing. According to Hamilton's the devices already are

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<v Speaker 1>being used by pharmaceutical companies, and NASA is working with

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<v Speaker 1>Emulate to use the company's brain chip in space in

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<v Speaker 1>order to better understand the effects of microgravity and other forces.

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<v Speaker 1>Organ chips also can be combined in a system to

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<v Speaker 1>simulate how multiple organs react to something, and Emulate is

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<v Speaker 1>working on the patient on a chip, which eventually will

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<v Speaker 1>include organ ships that are tailored with an individual patient's

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<v Speaker 1>own cells. Those sorts of developments give opponents of animal

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<v Speaker 1>testing hope that it will soon become a thing of

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<v Speaker 1>the past. As Elizabeth Magner puts it, we are confident

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<v Speaker 1>that this reality is not only possible, but inevitable. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Patrick J. Keiger and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tristan McNeil for more on this and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>forward thinking topics, visit our home planet, tostof works dot com.