Read Animal Aid's scientific Briefing on the Bristol experiments

eeding, experimentation and traumatic death. The
scale of suffering involved is incomparably greater than
any other area of animal experimentation.
Furthermore, using GM mice to mimic human disease
is not delivering meaningful healthcare advances.
This peculiar science continues to lead to ineffective
drugs, disastrous clinical trials, and the dashing of
the elevated hopes of hundreds of thousands of
patients and their carers. Science Corrupted details
the serious misgivings of numerous researchers and
commentators about the value and relevance of this
work.
Humane research and medical progress
In contrast to the assertions made to the Home Office
by the researchers, there are alternative approaches
that can replace animal use in pain experiments.
Studies on cultured human skin cells, minimally
invasive microdialysis testing, and studies of human
nerve tissue have all been used to investigate the role
of galanin. Brain-imaging technologies, like functional
MRI, are a powerful tool for investigating allodynia 4 in
patients. As the 2013 study cited above points out: ‘In
the area of pain research, ethical clinical studies with
human patients have the advantage that humans can
reliably report their experience of pain and pain relief.’
Double helix - the structure of DNA
<strong>Briefing</strong> sheet
www.animalaid.org.uk • tel: 01732 364546
<strong>Animal</strong> Aid, like the general public, is keen to see
research undertaken that is both humane and has
a good prospect of leading to genuine medical
advancement. However, GM mouse experiments are
a betrayal of patients desperate for genuine progress
instead of endless false dawns. Bristol University must
give a clear commitment that it will end all involvement
in irrelevant and cruel animal experiments.
<strong>Read</strong> Science Corrupted and view <strong>Animal</strong> Aid’s short
film about GM mouse experiments at
www.animalaid.org.uk/GMmice
References available on request
1 Transgenic animals have been altered to carry
a foreign gene from another organism within their
natural genome. Knockout animals have certain genes
prevented from working.
2 Neuropathic pain is chronic pain resulting from
damage to or dysfunction of the nervous system
3 For a detailed explanation of this technique, please
see page 13 of <strong>Animal</strong> Aid’s Science Corrupted report
4 Allodynia is pain produced by a stimulus that does
not normally produce pain