Animal use in biomedical research has been a long standing and accepted practice in research and medicine. Animal models are used to study comparative effects in humans, mainly mammals, as we share anatomy and physiology (Barre-Sinoussi and Montagutelli, 2015). With using animal models, researchers are able to control the environment they are exposed to such as their diet, lighting, and temperature they are exposed to whereas in humans, it is often hard to control for these things. The findings used in animal models are then translated into human clinical trials if there is sufficient evidence that it is safe to test in humans.
Although using animals for scientific research has been a long standing practice, laboratory researchers suffer mental health damages in the process. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many research laboratories were forced to close down, and during so, the animals in the lab were instructed to be put down. Using carbon monoxide is a common practice of putting down mice or rats and afterwards, cervical dislocation at the neck to ensure death (King and Zohny, 2022). It is easy to see why this could negatively affect one’s health. This has been referred to as the caring-killing paradox where the people care for, and later, have to kill the animal they worked so hard to take care of (King and Zohny, 2022). This paradox often leads to compassion fatigue and is a major concern for laboratory researchers who are often faced with this issue.
So what is the solution if animals are such a vital part of conducting scientific research? Stress management techniques and recognizing administrative burden can reduce the psychological burden. Also ensuring sufficient counseling to all laboratory members and maintaining open dialogue about the animal user burden are key ways to reduce compassion fatigue.
Barré-Sinoussi, F., & Montagutelli, X. (2015). Animal models are essential to biological research: issues and perspectives. Future science OA, 1(4), FSO63. https://doi.org/10.4155/fso.15.63
King, M., & Zohny, H. (2022). Animal researchers shoulder a psychological burden that animal ethics committees ought to address. Journal of medical ethics, 48(5), 299–303. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106945
Your post piqued my interest because I had never considered the emotional toll it takes to do such a thing and how frequently it occurs in the field of research. I think the question you pose is definitely one to be considered, and I think it could be partially answered by estimating the length of the study and letting that inform the choice of animals and the inclusion of a second possible outcome for the research subjects. Also, does taking into account the lifespan of certain animal subjects reduce the psychological burden on researchers?
ReplyDelete