The Significance of Alternative Techniques in Biomedical Research: An Analysis of Nobel Prize Awards

Introduction The current controversy over the use of animals in research has put the biomedical and psychological communities on the defensive. Their main defense has been to emphasize the health benefits to humans from animal research (e.g., Miller 1985; Gay undated). This defense has been challenged on scientific grounds in at least two ways. First, critical assessments of various fields of animal research have revealed that claims of health benefits are grossly exaggerated (Drewitt and A second and complementary response is to argue that, whatever the benefits have been, the use of animals should be replaced to the fullest extent possible by alternative methods. Alternatives include the three Rs of replacement, reduction, and refinement (Russell and Burch 1959), that is, methods that completely replace the use of animals in a procedure, that reduce animal use, and refine procedures so that pain, suffering, or deprivation are lessened (Stephens 1986b). Reduction and refinements are considered interim steps toward the ultimate goal of the complete replacement of laboratory animals with nonanimal methods. The "alternatives approach" consists of developing and employing methods specifically designed as alternatives. The aim of the approach is to determine the extent to which alternatives can replace traditional uses of animals. This aim has an ethical and compassionate appeal that is being bolstered by recent scientific advances in developing alternatives (Stephens 1986b). The alternatives approach was first discussed comprehensively in 1959 by Russell and Burch (1959). Before this, some alternative methods already had been developed but were employed almost exclusively for scientific reasons, with humane considerations being overlooked. The alternatives approach advocates both scientific and humane considerations. Perhaps because of the recentness of this approach-indeed, of some of the alternatives themselves-animal advocates have largely overlooked the past achievements of alternative techniques in research. One of the few