Spring Intro 2023

22/03/2023

Ethics and Risk Assessment

DECLARATION OF HELSINKI (Oct 2013) Part 17 & 21

1 The overwhelming majority of classical human toxins (lead, arsenic, cyanide etc) have very similar effects & the same biochemical mechanism of toxicity in animals 2 All chemicals known to cause cancer in humans, also cause cancer in rodents 3 Animals are often, still the best surrogate for assessing the unknown risk of toxicity to humans Why use Animals to Test the Safety of Medicines?

“ All medical research involving human subjects must be preceded by careful assessment of predictable risks and burdens to the individuals and groups involved in the research …based on thorough knowledge of the scientific literature, other relevant sources of information, and adequate laboratory and, as appropriate, animal experimentation

Ref: World Medical Association 64 th General Assembly

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•Out of 93 dangerous drug side effects, only 19% could have been predicted by animal tests, a recent study found – a blatant misrepresentation

•Using mice and rats to test the safety of drugs in humans is only accurate 43% of the time, a recent study found

•Only one third of substances known to cause cancer in humans have been shown to cause cancer in animals – completely untrue!

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