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Vatican supports animal experimentation
The Pontifical Academy for Life has released the final communiqué from its February 2003 meeting The Ethics of Biomedical Research: a Christian Vision. The statement from the 10-year-old papal body is strongly supportive of biomedical research, noting "There have been tremendous breakthroughs, for example, in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, as well as in transplants and the neurological sciences."
When it comes to the role of animals in research, the academy's views are unequivocally in favour of using them. It states "…we want to reaffirm the need to do sufficient experimentation on animals prior to the clinical experimental phase (the application on human beings) that will enable researchers to acquire advance knowledge of the possible harm and risks that this experimentation could have in order to guarantee the safety of the human subjects involved."
The communiqué concludes with a Manifesto, which is described as a "proposal of an ethical commitment for researchers in the biomedical field". It suggests that researchers should sign up to a series of ethical statements, including one about the use of animals in research. This commitment states "I recognise, because of my duty to safeguard human life and health, the usefulness and the obligation of a serious and responsible experimentation on animals, carried out according to determined ethical guidelines, before applying new diagnostic and therapeutic methodologies to human beings."
The emphasis of the academy's statement lies with the need to use animals in research to safeguard human health and life. However, it does acknowledge that scientists have duties to care for the welfare of the animals in addition, noting, "Naturally, experimentation on animals also has to be carried out with the observance of precise ethical norms to safeguard, as far as possible, the well-being of the specimens used."