Content area
Full Text
ANIMAL RESEARCH
Researchers debate most humane methods of dispatch.
Killing research animals is one of the most unpleasant tasks in science, and it is imperative to do it as humanely as possible. But researchers who study animal welfare and euthanasia are growing increasingly concerned thatwidely used techniques are not the least painful and least stressful available. This week, experts from across the world will gather in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, to debate the evidence and try to reach a consensus.
"There are lots of assumptions made about the humaneness of various techniques for euthanizing animals," says Penny Hawkins, deputy head of the research animals department at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a charity based in Southwater, UK. "Sometimes an animal might not appear to be suffering, but might be conscious and suffering."
Much of the debate centres on rodents, which make up the vast majority of research animals. Current techniques for killing them include inhalation methods - such as chambers that fill with carbon dioxide or anaesthetic gases - and injecting barbiturates. Physical methods include cervical dislocation (breaking of the neck), or decapitation with specialist...