Sustainable education and training in laboratory animal science and ethics in low- and middle-income countries in Africa – challenges, successes, and the way forward (2025)

Animal Research Ethics in Africa: Is Tanzania Making Progress?

Developing World Bioethics, 2013

The significance of animals in research cannot be over-emphasized. The use of animals for research and training in research centres, hospitals and schools is progressively increasing. Advances in biotechnology to improve animal productivity require animal research. Drugs being developed and new interventions or therapies being invented for cure and palliation of all sorts of animal diseases and conditions need to be tested in animals for their safety and efficacy at some stages of their development. Drugs and interventions for human use pass through a similar development process and must be tested pre-clinically in laboratory animals before clinical trials in humans can be conducted. Therefore, animals are important players in research processes which directly and indirectly benefit animals and humans. However, questions remain as to whether these uses of animals consider the best interests of animals themselves. Various research and training institutions in Tanzania have established some guidelines on animal use, including establishing animal ethics committees. However, most institutions have not established oversight committees. In institutions where there may be guidelines and policies, there are no responsible committees or units to directly oversee if and how these guidelines and policies are enforced; thus, implementation becomes difficult or impossible. This paper endeavours to raise some issues associated with the responsible use of animals in research and training in Tanzania and highlights suggestions for improvement of deficiencies that exist in order to bridge the gap between what ought to be practised and what is practised.

The Governance of Animal Care and Use for Scientific Purposes in Africa and the Middle East

ILAR Journal

Responsible conduct with animals in research; L.A. Hart (Ed.); Oxford University Press, 1998, 193 pages; hardbound, ISBN 0-19-510511-7, US$60; paperback, ISBN 0-19-510512-5, US$27

Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2000

The book evolved from a lecture series on``Responsible Conduct in Science'' held at the University of California, Davis in which issues facing researchers in the field of animal behaviour were addressed. The editor notes that in the last few years both the scientific community and the public are being educated with regard to their responsibilities in relation to plagiarism and fraud in science; however, responsible conduct had not previously been addressed regarding animal experimentation. Some of the compiled papers in this book are anecdotal, some provocative, others provide justification for animal research; the general theme of the book is one of caring for animals and the recognition of a need for awareness and improvement of animal welfare. 13 of the 15 contributors are US based accounting for a US bias. However as many of the views are universal they are suitable for a broad geographical audience. Although the target audience is not specified the book should be of interest to any person involved in animal experimentation. I would also recommend it to animal rights activists to appreciate the concern that many scientists have about the use of animals and the steps they recommend in addressing those concerns. The first of four sections is titled Changing Research Practices Regarding Animal Care and Use: Institutional and Personal Perspectives. Comparisons of the rules and regulations from several countries (Lynette Hart) is followed by Donald Dewsbury's history of the Committee on Animal Research and Ethics of the American Psychological Association. Finally there is a very interesting personal perspective of a life working with animals in research by John Gluck. Hart's chapter, Moving Towards a Less-troubled Middle Ground, is acknowledged to be US based and intended to highlight, rather than be comprehensive. However an additional exploration of practices in emerging countries would have made an interesting and informative contrast. Multinationally funded organisations operating in different countries need to know and apply rules and regulations from other countries as well as their own. For example, our own investigation revealed only one relevant Ethiopian law under the Offences against Public Peace, Tranquillity and Order which states that a person is liable to``fine or arrest if, in a public place or a place open to the public or which can be viewed by the public, and without justification, he commits acts of cruelty towards animals or inflicts upon them ill treatment or revolting violence or brutality''.

Effects of Laboratory Animal Science Training on Scientists’ Attitudes and Practice in Egypt

Journal of The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 2018

Special Section: Moving Forward in Animal Research Ethics Guest Editorial Reassessing Animal Research Ethics

2015

Animal research has long been a source of biomedical aspirations and moral concern. Examples of both hope and concern are abundant today. In recent months, as is common practice, monkeys have served as test subjects in promising preclinical trials for an Ebola vaccine or treatment 1 , 2 , 3 and in controversial maternal deprivation studies. 4 The unresolved tension between the noble aspirations of animal research and the ethical controversies it often generates motivates the present issue of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. As editors of this special section, we hope that these original and timely articles will push the professional discussion of animal research ethics in a positive direction that will benefi t research scientists and others interested in moral problems in animal research. We also look forward to a day when animal research will genuinely meet both appropriate scientifi c and appropriate ethical criteria-criteria that themselves can be improved by critical scrutiny. Animal research-that is, the use of live animals as experimental subjects in biomedical and behavioral fi elds of learning-has been deeply entrenched for well over half a century. One signal development was the enactment in the late 1930s of federal product safety legislation in the United States and other nations that required animal testing of food, drugs, and medical devices prior to use by human subjects or consumers. 5 Another development was the publication of codes of research ethics that called for animal research prior to human research. The Nuremberg Code, published by an American military tribunal in 1947-48 after scrutiny of Nazi medical atrocities, stated that experiments involving the use of human subjects should be "based on the results of animal experimentation." 6 The Declaration of Helsinki, fi rst published in 1964, reaffi rmed this assumption and added, rather imprecisely, that "the welfare of animals used for research must be respected." 7 Against the background of such statements, the institutionalization and widespread acceptance of animal research in the twentieth century rested on two basic assumptions, one factual and one moral. The factual assumption was that animal research is suffi ciently reliable as a basis for predicting the effects of drugs, products, and other materials on human beings that animal trials can be expected to yield signifi cant scientifi c conclusions and medical benefi ts to humanity.

Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programs in West Africa as a model for sustainable partnerships in animal and human health

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2012

Introduction: Global Laws, Regulations, and Standards for Animals in Research

ILAR Journal

This issue contains a collection of papers describing the state of animal laws, regulations, and standards in counties worldwide, grouped by geographic regions (i.e., North America, South America, Pacific Rim, Africa, and the Middle East). An overview of the US and Canadian legal requirements for animal welfare is provided, along with consideration of potential gaps in the US Animal Welfare Act. The EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes and its transposition is discussed, and challenges facing laboratory animal protection regimes in Latin America and the Pacific Rim are examined. Legislation for laboratory animal use has been enacted in India and Australia, while animal protection regimes have not yet been enacted in the Middle East and Africa. International harmonization is a particularly important challenge for the global scientific community and private accreditation by organizations such as AAALAC International, plays a key role in promoting high standards for animal care and use programs globally. This article highlights three future trends. First, international efforts at harmonization will continue, and seek to keep pace with the globalization of science. Second, nations that have not yet developed robust legal systems applicable to laboratory animal welfare will seek out the expertise of those nations that have well established regimes. Third, for countries with mature animal protection systems, animal use in research will continue to be of societal concern, and efforts to change existing laws will not abate. The opportunity to use animals in laboratory research is not an entitlement. It is a privilege accorded by society to certain members of the scientific community and along with it comes the responsibility to adhere to, and seek improvement in, applicable laws, regulations, policies and standards.

Ethical dimensions of zoonotic disease research: Perspectives of traditional livestock keepers in Zambia

Wellcome Open Research

Background: With the increase in zoonotic disease research using livestock belonging to traditional livestock keepers (LKs) as research subjects, careful attention to both animal and livestock keeper interests is critically important in Zambia and other similar contexts. Methods: The study aimed to explore ethics-related challenges during zoonotic disease research among LKs where their livestock are included as research subjects. The study was implemented in the Southern province of Zambia in July 2020. Three focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 30 adult male LKs living in livestock-wildlife interface areas where zoonotic diseases are likely to occur, were carried out. The FGDs were done in the local language and audio recorded. Thematic analysis was done using field notes and translated and transcribed recorded interviews. Results: The study found that trust between the researchers and LKs when their livestock are used as research subjects was very cardinal and depended on t...

Interdisciplinary Animal Research Ethics-Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives

Animals, 2024

Can nonhuman animals be used for the benefit of humans in a scientifically and morally justified manner and, if yes, how? Based on our own experiences as scholars from various academic backgrounds, we argue that this question can only be answered as an interdisciplinary and international endeavor, considering insights from research ethics and animal ethics as well as scientific and legal aspects. The aim of this article is to contribute to the foundation of the emerging field of animal research ethics. In doing so, we describe the following seven phases of animal research experiments: ethical, legal and social presumptions (phase 0), planning (phase I), review (phase II), conduct of experiments (phase III), publication/dissemination (phase IV), further exploitation of results (phase V), and evaluation (phase VI). In total, 20 key ethical, legal, and practical challenges that an ethical framework for the use of animals in research needs to address are identified and analyzed. Finally, we characterize the following four meta-challenges and opportunities associated with animal research ethics as a field: (1) moral pluralism, (2) the integration of views and positions outside the laboratory, (3) international plurality of conduct, standards, and legal norms, and (4) interdisciplinary education.

Animal Ethics Training for Postgraduates in Medical Schools in India: Catch Them Young!

Alternatives to Laboratory Animals, 2013

Adequate training in ethics for young scientists will serve as an important means of improving animal-based research in India