1. NON ANIMAL TECHNOLOGY - the future is amazing, and
animal-free.
Technology is more valuable
than animal tests
If we didn’t have animal testing, medical progress would stop. We
would have no idea which medications were effective and which
were dangerous until humans took them.
This is claimed by people who don‟t understand animal
experiments, and people who support them for financial reasons.
The reality is that the technology available is incredible and enables
achievements that few would have believed possible.
An excellent film on non-animal technology was made by doctors'
group Safer Medicines. This is available to view online and comes
very highly recommended.
You may also like to see our news page on medical progress.
Frustration at the slow pace at which technology is adopted has
been voiced by medical professionals.
The concept that animal testing is neccesary is gaining more
challenges in the media, such as here. Anotherarticle explains the
neccesity of developing and using human-centred technology, as
the animal methods are not predictive.
* Computer modelling
* Cell culture
* Microdosing
* Proteomics
* Brain research
Computer modelling
Imagine that you try a drug on a mouse and it dies of a heart
attack. You then have to ask:

2. * Did the drug actually cause the heart attack?
* What actually happened?
* Would it be the same in humans?
Computer models of the human heart are now in use. They enable
us to watch the heart beat in 3D from all angles, and show reaction
to a drug being used. You can then replay in slow motion what may
happen and see what happened and why. The heart can develop
illnesses and react to drugs, and since 2001 it has been used to
identify dangerous drugs. (NewScientistTech. 2551 13 May 2006)
Other organs have been modelled too, and now there are even
entire virtual humans. Yorkshire-based company Simcyp is
producing software which predicts the effect of drugs, and accounts
for the patients‟ age, sex and height. A speciality is enabling
predictions of drug effects in babies and children, a problematic
area. (New Technology Detects Risks Of Drugs To Heart
Sooner.Yorkshire Today, 2006)
Another key player is Physiomics, who claim they can help identify
optimum dose levels, particularly for cancer drugs, accurately. The
computer simulation it owns, SystemCell, uses biology and scientific
data to simulate the way drugs will work in the body. (The Daily
Telegraph. 19 August 2004)
The virtual heart has to be seen to be believed. An online
video is available here.

3. Cell culture
The concept behind cell culture is simple, but the degree to which
it has evolved is incredible. In 1996 the techniques available then
were evaluated alongside animal tests, and the cell culture ones
were found to be more accurate. (Clemedson C, McFarlane-Abdulla
E, Andersson M, et al. MEIC Evaluation of Acute Systemic Toxicity.
ATLA 1996;24:273-311)
Since then, cell culture use has expanded. The American National
Cancer Institute (NCI) has developed a screening project to identify
cancer drugs using only cell culture methods. NCI explains
that “This project is designed to screen up to 20,000
compounds per year for potential anticancer activity. The
operation of this screen utlilizes 60 different human

4. tumorcell lines, representing leukaemia, melanoma, and
cancers of the lung, colon, brain, ovary, breast, prostate and
kidney.”(http://dtp.nco.nih.gov/branches/btb/ivclsp.html)
Previously, drug screening has been in animals. A textbook
concludes that:"despite 25 years of intensive research and
positive results in animal models, not a single anti-tumour
drug emerged from this work." (JCW Salen, Animal Models-
Principles and Problems in Handbook of Laboratory Animal Science
1994)
June 2010 - news item on cell culture -click here.
Dec 2010 - cell culture dug trials of cancer drugs are quicker and
more effective than animal tests - read more here.
March 2011 - The damage of Parkinson's Disease can now be
observed in a cell culture - read more here.
June 2011 - As a doctor explains, animal tests are inferior than any
of the technological technology tests. click here.
June 2011 - Experts are building a computer-based genetic model in
which colon cancer treatment will be tsted on a personal level.
Click here.
November 2011 - 'Micro lungs' built from lung and liver cells will
enable more accurate testing. Read morehere.
February 2012 - Nanosensers enable testing of chemicals. Read
more here.
February 2012 - Swansea University search for better
methods. Read more here.
May 2012 - Analytical chemistry replaces mice in Food Standards
test. Read more here.
June 2012 - China approves a non animal technique for cosmetics
ingredients. Read more here.
July 2012 - $70 million project to develop 'organ on a chip'
technology.Read more here.
Skin and eye safety
Skin testing has long been a common use for animals, although
various cell culture tests exist. EpiDerm uses human skin cells and
is accepted as accurate, while Epipack uses sheets of cloned human
skin cells. The Human Keratinocyte Bioassay enables a computer to

5. measure damage to the epithelial cells, which cover the skin and
eyes. Corrositex detects skin damage using a membrane and a
chemical detection fluid, and gives results in 4 hours – compared
with 4 weeks for animal tests. (www.mbresearch.com)
Eye damage can be assessed usingMatTekEpiOcular (see the
diagram below). Since 1985 this model has been using human cells
to evaluate eye irritancy. Valuable as this is, the test is not isolated
and other models are being developed.
(www.mbresearch.com 31/12/2006)
Interestingly, the SkinEthic and MakTekcellmodels were approved
by European regulators which means the much discredited Draize
rabbit test is officially obsolete.
New applications are always emerging - such as Toxcast
Another is InLiveTox, an artificial liver and gut.
Tox21 was discussed in August 2010 as a much more reliable and
fantastically more speedy method than animal testing to reveal
drug safety and efficiency.
Another area is biochips. An 'Artery-on-a-chip' has been developed,
which is a microfluidic platform on which fragile blood vessels can
be fixed, allowing the factors that promote and sustain
cardiovascular diseases to be studied.
Healthy babies
Teratology – or the study of the cause of birth defects is an area
where animal tests are clearly inferior to other available methods
(Biogenic Amines Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 97–145 (2005)) (see our page

6. on this - LINK). The Embryonic Cell Test (EST) is a highly accurate
test, and the Micromass (MM) test is proven particularly effective
for chemicals causing specific forms of damage to the growing
embryo, emphasizing the value of cell culture tests in this area too.
(Biogenic Amines Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 97–145 (2005))
Their conclusions
show that the dilemma is not between animal tests and cell culture,
but a decision between cell culture and human
experience: “virtually every substance or dietary deficiency
currently recognized as being teratogenic in humans was
initially identified as a result of case reports and clinical
series”. (Polifka, J. E. and Friedman, J. M. (1999). Clinical
teratology: identifying teratogenic risks in humans).
The microdose
Microdosing is so incredible it sounds like science fiction. In reality
it is the incisive use of technology to safely study medications in the
ideal model – a human patient.
It involves tiny doses of a test medication being given to a patient,
who is then scanned in detail using sensitive imaging equipment.
This helps to accurately identify the route of the drug, and the

7. organs or other tissues that it affects. The appeal of the technique
is safe because the doses involved are so tiny (typically about 1%
of clinical levels) that damage will not be caused. The technique
enables the drug to be tested in an intact living system without
resorting to use of a different species.
The method works by „labelling‟ the drug using a carbon isotype,
which enables it to be traced. The conversion of the drug into other
molecules can then be measured, and the length of time they stay
in the system can be assessed.
Does it work?
Concerns were made that low dose drugs would behave different
from the full dose. To counter, an independent test was invited
by Xceleron, a pioneer of the technique formed from York
University. Drugs known to have unusual characteristics that
animal testing failed to detect were examined using microdosing.
An accuracy rate of 70% was achieved when results were compared
with full-dose studies.
Considering that animal studies typically achieve lower accuracy
rates, and that this test was for drugs known to harbour
idiosyncrasies, the success is remarkable. The American drug
regulator FDA has now said it will accept microdose data.
Evidence that the technique can work at doses even lower than 1%
was revealed by American group Radiant Research, who re-
evaluated HIV drug AZT at one millionth (0.0001%) of its usual
dose. More than 72 hours after administering the drug they were
able to evaluate concentrations in blood, saliva, urine,
DNA and white blood cells. The accuracy is stunning: an expert
explained "we can say with confidence that between 30 min
and 45 minutes after dosing, 0.09% of the oral dose resided
within the white blood cells in the blood. We were also able
to show uptake of AZT into the genetic material of these
cells, which is ultimately how antivirals like AZT inhibit viral
replication. Such data could not have been obtained by any
other method".
The technique is possible thanks to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

8. technology, coupled with PET scans to see where the drug travels in
the body. AMS is so incredibly sensitive that it enables analysis at
levels previously impossible. Thanks to microdose technology,
drug research will never be the same.
European regulators have concluded that the technique will “make
human clinical studies safer”; until now they have relied largely
on animal studies. They could also save money. An industry
publication stated that it“…should allow better choices to be
made in drug development, focusing resources on drug
candidates that are more likely to succeed and killing early
those compounds that will sap resources and waste time.”
Personalised medicine
Microdosing could also develop the area of personalised medicine.
Some drugs may be safe or effective in many patients, but useless
or damaging in others. People have died due to unexpected
reaction caused by otherwise safe medical drugs.
"The individual response to drugs can vary tremendously",
says an expert. "Some of this behaviour can be explained
through metabolic signatures in the individual. Accelerator
Technology enables such profiling."
Microdosing promises not only to make existing processes safer and
more accurate, but also to unlock areas of medicine we only
dreamed of in the recent past.
June 2011 - This article in a leading medical journal details the
calls for routine personalised medicine.
December 2011 - This article explains how personalised medicine
can revolutionise cancer treatment.
December 2011 - The Mayo Clinic (USA) is developing a landmark
project to advance this form of study.
Proteomics
The cells of life

9. Test on an animal and immediately you‟re faced with the
complexities of an intricate living system, and identifying the effect
on different organs is unfeasible. It is now more obvious that
disease works on at the level of individual cells, so understanding
the different cell types is essential.
This is leading to the rise of proteomics. This exciting area of
science studies the activity of proteins in the cells: how, in the
normal cell function, proteins function and are regulated - and what
happens to cause illness. The proteome is defined as the
constellation of the proteins in a cell. The arrangement of them and
which ones are present is a matter which has massive
consequences for health. This is because proteins build most cell
structures and perform most of the functions which are needed for
life to function healthily. “Proteins are central to our
understanding of cellular function and disease processes and
without a concerted effort in proteomics the fruits of
genomics will go unrealised. The necessity of proteomics
cannot be avoided” - says an expert in the field.
(www.xensei.com/users/chi/2001/hpr/hpr_pressrelease.htm)
Catalogue the proteome
Plans to catalogue proteins have started in a similar way to the
human genome project. Just as genes and their roles are
understood far better thanks to study of the human genome, plans
to investigate the human body‟s proteins are underway. The
benefits of proteomics are likely to be in complex diseases like
cancer, and those of the cardiovascular system. Already advances

10. have been made; a protein called HER3 has been studied and the
three-dimensional structure in now known. Before this, it was
almost impossible to predict how drugs will bind to the protein, but
experts now predict they will be able to prevent or treat specific
cancer types by targeting HER3. (John Hopkins Medical institutions
Press Release Aug 6th 2002 “Structure of key receptor unlocked;
Related proteins will fall like dominoes”)
Hopes were raised in the area of HIV treatment when it was
discovered that a gene prevents HIV from reproducing, but is
blocked by a single protein. This could lead to a whole new type of
HIV treatments. (Thomas Jefferson University Information Release
8th July 2002 “Discovery may lead to new HIV drugs, says Jefferson
virologist”)
There are big plans for proteomics -read more here.
“With so many pre-clinical systems that are much more reliable
than animal research now available, the only reason I can see to
use animal experiments is this: there is need to think when doing
such experiments. Killing animals is so much more congenial than
thinking for some „scientists‟ that animal research remains
popular.” (Irwin D Bross, PhD, former Director of Biostatics at the
Roswell Park Memorial Institute for Cancer Research)
Brain research
Technology in the modern laboratory
fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) This technique
identifies the role of different areas of the brain. It does this by
detecting higher and lower magnetic susceptibilities in the blood,
which indicate whether the blood is newly oxygenated or not. Real
time scans are possible which aid treatments such as surgery and
are of great value as a diagnostic tool.

11. See this for more or this for a British University applying the
technique.
MagnetoEncephaloGraphy (or MEG) detects the magnetic fields
associated with brain activity without using X-rays. It sends no
signals into the brain so is entirely safe. It enables a functional
image of the brain to be shown. This helps show what activity the
brain is undertaking, and where in the brain this comes from. It
helps show where problems (eg epilepsy or migraine) is coming
from.

12. See this link for a UK university working at the forefront of this
technology. Or see this work at Aston University and these
projects there for some of the valuable work now being conducted
in humans.
EIT (Electrical Impedance Tomography), is mobile and cheap. It
registers electrical resistance in disease-affected areas. The main
benefit is therefore to trace the movement of blood and other fluids.
Developments will hopefully lead to this being a cheap, portable
method of imaging the brain in full 3-D detail.
See this link for the detailed interpretation of info from EIT,
and thisfor more applications.
SPECT (Single Photon-Emission Computed Tomography) enables
doctors to build 3D images of the brain by detecting details about
the flow of blood. This shows brain function and is vital for detection
of illnesses. This is done by radioactive labelling blood.
See more here and here.
Powerful new microscopes and other technologies make studies of
actual human tissue very valuable to serious researchers, while
making animal research obsolete.
SPECT scan showing details of a patient's stroke.

13. PET (Positron emission tomography) scans detect radiation from
positrons, and enable a detailed picture of the illness to be
constructed. This is vital for patients with brain dysfunction for
which the cause has not been determined.
See more here OR here.

14. MRS (Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) Enables chemical analysis
of the brain without surgery, by distinguishing the chemical nature
of the part of the brain being scanned. This is done by detecting the
magnetic resonance in that part of the brain and analysing the data
this shows.
Read more here or here.
EROS Uses lasers which can pass through the skull, to image the
brain. They are fired from dozens of different directions at once,
and the technique measures differences in the way they reflect. The
differences are caused by the fluid in the brain cells, and reveal vital
information about the condition of the different parts of the brain.

15. TMS (Transcranial magnetic stimulation) stimulates or calms parts
of the brain using magnetic impulses. Higher frequencies stimulate,
lower ones calm. This enables doctors to calm brain areas and
assess the affect on symptoms, therefore identifying brain areas
linked with specific illnesses. Long-term imbalances in the brain can
be identified.

16. See more here, here or here.
Without autopsies, the progress in neurology would be almost non
existent. This method has focused on real patients and the real
nature of their brains, and full records of their condition have been
compared with the findings. As microscopes become more powerful,
the method becomes more effective.
Studies have shown that the same areas in different animal and
human brains play different roles as well: damage to the
corresponding parts of monkey and human brains has been shown
do cause different symptoms. (Reymond in Comparative Primate
Biology (vol 4): Neurosciences, by H. S Steklis and J. Erwin, 1988,
p605. Dr Hepp-Reymond in Comparative Primate Biology (vol 4):
Neurosciences, ed by H. S. Steklis and J. Erwin, 1988 p605)
In the early 1800s the speech centres of the brain were located
through autopsies and observing patients – work which would have
been impossible through vivisection as animals lack the same
speech process more obviously than they lack other
processes.(Neurology 1981;31:600-02)
Research into human brain function is only really possible through
studying humans – either in life or at post mortem. As a recognised
neurologist explains:
“The study of the brain, if it is to bear fruit, must be made on
man, i.e. at the bedside and in the post-mortem theatre;

17. …The utmost that can be learned from experiments on the
brains of animals is the topography of the animal’s brain,
and it must still remain for the science of human anatomy
and clinical investigation to enlighten us in regard…of our
own species; and in fact, it is from the department of clinical
investigation and post-mortem study that so far all of our
best brain localizations have been secured.” (Jean Martin
Charcot, Quoted in „Clinical Medical Discoveries‟, Bayly, B, NAVS
London, 1961, p27)