WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Could Technology Replace Animal Testing?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode from

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<v Speaker 1>our podcast archives. Animal testing is a difficult subject because

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<v Speaker 1>it can save human lives, but of course no one

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<v Speaker 1>wants non human animals to suffer unnecessarily either. But the

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<v Speaker 1>good news is that we're on the brink of replacing

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<v Speaker 1>animal testing with various technologies. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbom here.

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<v Speaker 1>In January eighteen, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott

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<v Speaker 1>Gottlieb announced that the agency, after an internal investigation, had

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<v Speaker 1>permanently ended a nicotine addiction study in which four squirrel

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<v Speaker 1>monkeys had died. He said in a statement on the

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<v Speaker 1>FDA website, based on this team's findings, it is clear

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<v Speaker 1>the study was not consistent with the agency's high animal

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<v Speaker 1>welfare standards. In a September seen letter, famous primate researcher

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<v Speaker 1>and conservationist Jane Goodall had denounced the research as cruel

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<v Speaker 1>and unnecessary, saying that the harmful effects of smoking on

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<v Speaker 1>humans are already known and could be studied directly. In

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<v Speaker 1>addition to ending the study, Gottlieb said that the findings

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<v Speaker 1>indicated that the FDA's protections for animal research subjects quote

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<v Speaker 1>may need to be strengthened in some important areas. For

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<v Speaker 1>that reason, he announced the launching of an independent, third

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<v Speaker 1>party investigation of all of the FDA's animal research and

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<v Speaker 1>the creation of a new animal welfare counsel to oversee

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<v Speaker 1>those studies going forward. Additionally, Gottlieb said that the FDA

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<v Speaker 1>would strengthen its commitment to replacing, reducing, and or refining

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<v Speaker 1>animal studies with new methods, and said that animals should

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<v Speaker 1>be used in studies only when there's no other way

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<v Speaker 1>to do research that's important for public health. But even so,

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<v Speaker 1>he said, it is important to recognize that there are

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<v Speaker 1>still many areas where animal research is important and necessary.

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<v Speaker 1>In particular, he cited the use of primates as essential

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<v Speaker 1>for the development of some critical vaccines for human children.

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<v Speaker 1>The research involving monkeys and the agency's response highlighted what,

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<v Speaker 1>for many people is a discomforting reality. Despite computer simulations

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<v Speaker 1>and other tools available to today's researchers, laboratories still use

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<v Speaker 1>large numbers of animals as experimental subjects, and an email,

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<v Speaker 1>FDA spokesperson Tara ge Rabbins said that the agency currently

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<v Speaker 1>is utilizing eight thousand, one hundred and sixty seven creatures

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<v Speaker 1>of various sorts in research That includes over seven thousand rodents,

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and seventy primates, hundred and nine fish, thirty

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<v Speaker 1>one lago morphs, an order that includes rabbits and hairs,

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<v Speaker 1>twenty mustella that's animals such as ferrets and weasels, twelve amphibians,

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<v Speaker 1>six cows, and five goats. But that's only a fraction

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<v Speaker 1>of the animals subjected to testing in other government, university,

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<v Speaker 1>and private sector labs. A report by the U S

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<v Speaker 1>Department of Agriculture listed over eight hundred and twenty thousand animals,

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<v Speaker 1>including one hundred and thirty nine thousand rabbits, seventy one

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<v Speaker 1>thousand primates, sixty thousand dogs, and eighteen thousand cats, among

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<v Speaker 1>other animals. Elizabeth Magner, program manager for the New England

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<v Speaker 1>Anti Vivisection Society, said in an email that the most

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<v Speaker 1>common toxicology tests, which include oral and dermal sensitization and

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<v Speaker 1>irritation testing, still cause thousands of animals to suffer and

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<v Speaker 1>die in the US each year, and despite the FDA's

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<v Speaker 1>position that animal testing is still essential, there are increasing

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<v Speaker 1>questions about its scientific value. Drugs often produce results in

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<v Speaker 1>animal tests that can't be replicated with humans, and at

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<v Speaker 1>least a few drugs that were deemed safe and animal

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<v Speaker 1>testing have turned out to be dangerous or even lethal

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<v Speaker 1>when taken by human subjects. The use of animals and

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<v Speaker 1>research goes back to ancient times, when Greek physicians did

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<v Speaker 1>exploratory surgery on live animals to study their anatomy and physiology.

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<v Speaker 1>In the early nineteen hundreds, rodents became a staple of

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<v Speaker 1>laboratory research after the breeding of a standard strain, the

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<v Speaker 1>whist rat. Katherine Willett, director of Regulatory Toxicology, Risk Assessment,

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<v Speaker 1>and Alternatives for the Humane Society of the United States, explains,

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<v Speaker 1>when we do research on animals, it's because a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>years ago it was the best thing people could think of.

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<v Speaker 1>You've learned that animals are not very good predictors of

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<v Speaker 1>what happens with people, but will it and others are

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<v Speaker 1>hopeful that animal testing will be replaced by alternatives that

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<v Speaker 1>will not only spare animals from suffering, but produce more

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<v Speaker 1>reliable results about human effects. One particularly promising technology is

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<v Speaker 1>the development of microchips lined with living human cells. That

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

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<v Speaker 1>President and chief scientific Officer of Emulate Incorporated, explained in

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

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<v Speaker 1>Emulates 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 cells 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 experiment mental testing. According to Hamilton's the devices already

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>in order to better understand the effects of microgravity and

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<v Speaker 1>other forces. Organ Ships also can be combined in a

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

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<v Speaker 1>Emulate is working on the patient on a chip, which

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<v Speaker 1>eventually will include organ ships that are tailored with an

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<v Speaker 1>individual patient's own cells. Those sorts of developments give opponents

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

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<v Speaker 1>thing of the past. As Elizabeth Magner puts it, we

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<v Speaker 1>are confident that this reality is not only possible, but inevitable.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was originally produced by Tristan McNeil and is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article will alternative technologies make animal testing obsolete?

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<v Speaker 1>On how stuff works dot Com? Written by Sherri's three

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<v Speaker 1>Win brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in

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