The “three Rs” was published to reinforce the humane treatment of laboratory animals. Reduction aimed to reduce the number of animals used in the experiment. Replacement involved using other research methods such as more scan and use of computer simulation instead of using animals. The final R is refinement which involves using procedures that minimises animal suffering. The three Rs has proved to be very successful , for example in the Netherlands over 5000 monkeys were used to produce polio vaccines in the 1970’s during 1990 this number had dropped to about 10 monkeys.
The problems faced with the ethical guidelines are that animals used cannot give their informed consent to participate in the experiment nor can they be debriefed after. Bateson argues that there are three main criteria that should be taken into account when deciding whether a study on an animal is justifiable. Firstly the quality of the research which, can be assessed by the funding agency. The amount of animal suffering, this can be assessed from the animal’s behaviour. And finally the likelihood of the benefits from using the animal, this is very hard to predict ahead of time.
There are two views on animal research; some people are either for or against it. Birch et al. found that there are benefits of non human research for example his research on animal behaviour on damaged crops, which led to the development of scarecrows to prevent any further damage to both the crops and avoiding poison to kill the animals. This study served a purpose to save both the animal and the crop.
Scientific arguments for animal research states tat it has been a major contributor to our knowledge of basic learning processes such as conditioning and motivational systems such as Skinner’s research with pigeons. Also Selye’s experiment on rats showed an important connection between stress and diseases. However using animals in studies to test hypotheses about human physiology would be incorrect; to find out about human physiology you would need to test humans. Animal experiments can only suggest new hypotheses that maybe relevant to humans.
The 1986 Act and the ethical issues released by the BPS are supposed to be looking out for both the animals used in the experiments and humans. For example experiments on animals have made an important contribution to advances in clinical psychology that have brought about improvements in the health of human beings. As a result it would be morally wrong not to make use of animals in research. Human species are seen as being the most complex animal. Therefore this makes it easier to understand the behaviour of other species assuming that they are similar to our own. This argument is used by behaviourists to justify why rats were used in their experiments.
On the other hand animal research has been conducted at the expense of suffering of animals. Although the cost benefit analysis of individual research projects should ensure the costs, animal suffering, and the benefits, medical advances, are predictable, this cannot be entirely certain before the experiment takes place.