Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

A paper in the January 2010 Journal of Biomedical Ethics gives an interesting insight into the use of public opinion polls by all sides in the UK animal research debate. In Research Ethics: The role of ‘public opinion’ in the UK animal research debate, Dr Pru Hobson-West looks at the role of public opinion in the debate, rather than what the public thinks or even what polling purports to show.

She interviewed laboratory scientists and other UK stakeholders, demonstrating that public opinion has become a kind of resource in the debate, with everyone wanting to show that opinion is on their side. This, she says, is a way to show legitimacy for a view. But should public opinion matter for science policy and ethical reasoning?

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Posted by Devilfish under blog's category : Antivivisection & extremism

What is wrong with animal experiments? asks BUAV's new ‘guide for students' and it is a question worth asking. The trouble is that the answers that the guide provides don't seem to have very much to do with the science.  

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Posted by Emu under blog's category : Animal welfare & alternatives

Critiques of animal research usually focus on issues such as the need for the study, the number of animals used, and how they are treated. Equally important, but often overlooked, are issues such as whether the experiment is properly designed, and whether the results are properly analysed and communicated.

In December 2009 the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research authored a paper in PLoS One reviewing experimental design and reporting of research involving animals.

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Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

Act now to safeguard improvements in science reporting – that is the message to the scientific community and government in the UK from a new strategic report published today. The report covers many aspects of the relationship between science and the media, and draws on new research which found that specialist science news reporting in the UK media is in relatively good health.

What does the report have to say about animal research and the media? In the final section it looks at openness and transparency on the part of the scientific community, and its very last recommendation calls for more openness on animal research, where it said restrictions remained 'even in academia'.

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