Dogs Are Killed in Stroke Experiments – It Has to Stop
Strokes affect over 100,000 people in the UK every year, devastating lives and costing more than £26 billion annually. Despite that, experimenters waste time and money on useless studies on mice, dogs, and other animals.
You’ll be shocked to know what animals are subjected to in stroke studies. Yet these experiments do not help humans. Read on to learn why it’s high time stroke research turned to cutting-edge non-animal methods.
Jo-Anne McArthur | We Animals
Rodent Studies of Stroke Are Irrelevant for Humans
Over 1,000 compounds have been tested on rodents in stroke studies, showing reduced brain damage in these animals. However, not a single one has successfully improved outcomes for human stroke patients in clinical trials.
This stark discrepancy highlights a fundamental issue: the physiological differences between humans and other animals make applying findings from animals to human conditions difficult. Simply put, humans are not rodents, and experiments on mice or guinea pigs are irrelevant to finding a much-needed treatment for human patients.
Dogs and Guinea Pigs Are Tortured in Meaningless Studies
The methods used to induce strokes in animals are not only scientifically flawed but also extremely cruel. Experimenters often cut open dogs’ chests to tie off an artery, reducing blood flow to the brain and causing loss of oxygen and brain tissue death. These animals are frequently killed at the end of the experiment.
This may sound like something from Victorian times, yet shamefully, these gruesome procedures are still taking place in laboratories in the 21st century. And it’s not just dogs who suffer. Mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigs, and monkeys are also subjected to these painful experiments. All these animals feel pain and fear and value their lives, just like humans do. They’re not test tubes with tails to be discarded as if they were mere objects.
In Vitro Studies Are the Way Forward
We cannot afford to continue investing in pointless experiments on animals. Our limited resources should be directed towards humane and scientifically valid methods that hold real promise for improving human health.
Thanks to technological advances and the innovative work of forward-thinking scientists, we now have more accurate and ethical methods of studying strokes. In vitro studies, which use three-dimensional representations of human brain cells and structures, offer promising tools.
For instance, researchers in Germany are cultivating different types of human brain cells to create mini brains, while in the Netherlands, scientists have developed a neurovascular unit–on-a-chip. These cutting-edge models can be used for stroke research and drug discovery, providing data relevant to human biology.
Dogs in Laboratories Need Your Help
It’s high time we shifted to innovative methods that offer better hope for finding effective treatments for stroke patients. PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal provides a roadmap for phasing out experiments on animals. Please sign our petition and urge the government to implement a strategy to end experiments on animals: