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Enter our essay competition about the future of animal research

HOW long will it be before we can wave goodbye to experiments involving animals? This question, which causes more antagonism than just about any other issue in science, is about to come to a head again: after 23 years, the governing the use of animals in research is being .

A vote by members of the European Parliament is expected later this year, and already all sides are lobbying from their well-rehearsed viewpoints. Many anti-vivisectionists believe we have the technologies to replace animals now. In contrast, a recent by our organisation, , found that 73 per cent of UK scientists who use animals in research believe their complete replacement will never happen.

There is more common ground between the factions than it might appear. Most people agree that alternatives to animals should be used where possible and that suffering should be minimised where alternatives are not yet available. This consensus is reflected in the EU legislation, which espouses the principle known as : replacement, reduction and refinement. Where people disagree is on how quickly alternatives can be phased in and the opportunities that already exist for reducing animal use.

What are the alternatives? In vitro research has already supplanted much animal experimentation, a trend which will continue as more complex cell types and configurations are replicated in the lab. Improved technologies for imaging and remote recording of vital signs such as heartbeat mean that multiple measurements can be taken from the same animal. Another promising area is the use of flies and worms instead of mammals: the Drosophila fruit fly has certain neurological pathways similar to those in humans, for instance.

Other opportunities for reducing animal use may not be far off. One is human tissue engineering, which could lead to the use of engineered tissues in place of animals to test new drugs and study disease. More ambitiously, the international is using computer modelling to build a 鈥渧irtual human鈥� to improve our understanding of physiological functioning. The potential for reducing animal use is clear.

鈥淓ngineered human tissue could be used in place of animals to test new drugs and study disease鈥�

Fifty years ago, when William Russell and Rex Burch first described the 3Rs in The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique, isolating human stem cells and sequencing the human genome were inconceivable. They were still only aspirations when European legislation on animal research first appeared in 1986. Over the next 20 to 30 years, these and other ground-breaking ideas need to be harnessed to bring about a future for science that does not rely on animals.