為科學而獻身?

　　Professor Colin Blakemore works at Oxford University Medical School doing research into eye problems and believes that animal research has given humans many benefits:

　　科林?布萊克默教授在牛津大學醫(yī)學院做眼科研究工作，他相信對動物的研究會給人類帶來很多好處。

　　The use of animals has been central to the development of anaesthetics, vaccines and treatments for diabetes, cancer, developmental disorders...most of the major medical advances have been based on a background of animal research and development.

　　使用動物對于麻醉學和疫苗的發(fā)展，對糖尿病、癌癥和發(fā)育紊亂的治療等都有著極為重要的意義，大多數(shù)重大的醫(yī)療發(fā)展都建立在對動物的研究和開發(fā)的基礎(chǔ)上。

　　There are those who think the tests are simply unnecessary. The International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals is an organization that promotes the use of alternative methods of research which do not make animals suffer. Their spokesman Colin Smith says:

　　有些人認為這些實驗是毫無必要的。“國際反對用動物做痛苦實驗協(xié)會”是一個旨在促使人們使用可替換方法，從而使動物不受痛苦的組織。他們的發(fā)言人科林?史密斯說：

　　Animal research is irrelevant to our health and it can often produce misleading results. People and animals are different in their reactions to drugs and in the way their bodies work. We only have to look at some of the medical mistakes to see this is so.

　　對動物的研究和我們的健康毫不相干，而且它時常產(chǎn)生起誤導作用的結(jié)果。人和動物對于藥物的反應(yīng)不同，而且它們肌體的運行方式也不同，我們只須看一些醫(yī)療事故就會明白這一點。

　　But Professor Blackmore stresses: It would be completely irresponsible and unethical to use drugs on people that had not been thoroughly tested on animals. The famous example of thalidomide is a case for more animal testing, not less. The birth defects that the drug produced were a result of inadequate testing. If thalidomide were invented today, it would never be released for human use because new tests on pregnant animals would reveal the dangers.

　　但是科林?布萊克默教授強調(diào)說： 沒有在動物身上進行全面的試驗之前就把藥物用在人類身上，是完全不負責任和不道德的行為。著名的薩立多胺案例就告訴我們：要進行更多的而不是更少的動物試驗。藥物引起的生育缺陷就是試驗不夠充分的結(jié)果。如果薩立多胺是今天發(fā)明的，它將決不會被用在人類身上，因為對懷孕動物的試驗就會顯示出它的害處。

　　Another organization that is developing other methods of research is FRAME. This is the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. It recognises that many experiments still have to be done on animals and is aiming for Reduction, Refinement and Replacement of animals in experiments. In 1981, it established a research programme to improve and expand non-animal testing. Increasingly, new technology is making it easier for us to find alternative methods of testing. Computer models can be used to simulate the way that cells work and to try to predict the toxicity of chemicals. Data from previous animal experiments is used to develop a computer model which will predict what will happen if you add a chemical with an unknown biological effect to a substance. The eventual aim of computer modeling is to reduce the number of animals used in experiments.

　　另外一個正在從事開發(fā)其他研究方法的組織是FRAME。FRAME就是“取代動物作醫(yī)學實驗基金會”的簡稱。它認識到許多試驗仍須在動物身上進行，它的目標是減少、限制和取代試驗中的動物。1981年它建立了一個研究計劃，目的在于改進和推廣無動物試驗。新技術(shù)日益使我們更加容易找到可替代的實驗方法。計算機模型可以用來摸擬細胞活動的方式，預測化學藥品的毒性。以前動物試驗的數(shù)據(jù)被用來開發(fā)一個計算機模型，這一模型將會預測出把一種未知其生物效果的化學藥品加入到某一種物質(zhì)之后所產(chǎn)生的情況。計算機模型的最終目標是減少用于試驗的動物的數(shù)量。

　　The Lethal Dose 50 test (LD50) may also be replaced. In the original test, all the animals in a test group are given a substance until half of them die. The test indicates toxicity. A method using a fixed amount, which gives the same eventual information but uses fewer animals and does not require that they die, may replace the LD50. Many other new techniques are now available that enable more research to be done in the test tube to see if chemicals produce harmful biological effects. The number of animals used in laboratory tests has declined over the last 20 years. This is partly due to alternatives and partly to the fact that experiments are better designed so fewer need to be used -- healthier animals provide better experimental results. For example, it used to take 36 monkeys to test a sample of polio vaccine, now it takes only 22. Also, lack of money has reduced the number of animals used --they are expensive to buy and expensive to keep.

　　“藥劑致死劑量50試驗(LD50)”也可以被取代。在最初的試驗中，給一個試驗組中的所有動物施用一種物質(zhì)直到它們中的一半死亡。這個試驗顯示出了毒性。現(xiàn)在一種使用固定數(shù)量的方法可以取代“藥劑致死量50試驗”，這種方法可以得出同樣的結(jié)果，但是使用較少的動物而且不需要它們死掉?，F(xiàn)在已有許多其他的新技術(shù)，可使更多的研究工作在試管中進行，并且能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)化學藥品是否產(chǎn)生有害的生物效果。在過去的20年里，實驗室試驗使用的動物數(shù)量已經(jīng)下降，其部分原因是有了替代方法，部分原因是實驗設(shè)計得較好，所需動物較少，更加健康的動物提供了優(yōu)良的實驗結(jié)果。例如，過去常常需要用36只猴子來檢驗一個脊髓灰質(zhì)炎疫苗的樣本，現(xiàn)在只需22只。資金的缺乏也減少了動物使用的數(shù)量――購買和飼養(yǎng)它們的費用都很昂貴。

　　Birmingham University now has Britain’s first department of Biomedical Ethics. Professor David Morton of the department is involved in animal research and is concerned with reducing animal suffering as much as possible. Animals spend 95% of their time in their cages and refinement also means making their lives better when not undergoing tests. This includes keeping them in more suitable cages, allowing social animals like dogs to live together and trying to reduce the boredom that these animals can experience.

　　現(xiàn)在伯明翰大學有英國第一個生物醫(yī)學倫理學系，該系的莫頓教授參與動物研究并對盡可能減少動物的痛苦十分關(guān)注。動物們95%的時間都呆在籠子中，條件的改善使動物在沒有經(jīng)受試驗時可以活得更好一些，包括讓他們呆在更加適合的籠子中，讓那些喜歡合群的動物(如狗)在一起生活，盡量減少這些動物可能感到的厭煩。

　　In Professor Morton’s laboratory, rabbits live together in large runs, filled with deep litter and boxes that they can hide in. The researchers have also refined some experiments. In the US, one experiment in nerve regeneration involves cutting a big nerve in a rat’s leg, leaving its leg paralysed. In Morton’s lab, the researcher cuts a small nerve in the foot. He can see if it can regrow and the rat can still run around its cage.

　　莫頓教授的實驗室里，大批兔子一起生活，里面有厚厚的干草和盒子以供它們藏匿。研究人員還改進了一些實驗。在美國，一個神經(jīng)再生實驗需要割斷老鼠腿上的一根大的神經(jīng)，使它的腿癱瘓。在莫頓的實驗室里，研究人員割斷了它的爪子上的一根小神經(jīng)，他能夠看到這一神經(jīng)能否再生，而老鼠仍能夠在籠了中到處跑。

　　Even with these new developments in research, only a tiny proportion of all tests are done without using animals at some stage. The use of animals in experiments cannot stop immediately if medical research is to continue and consumer products are to he properly tested, and Professor Blakemore believes that sometimes there are no alternatives:

　　盡管在研究方面取得了許多新的進展，但是只有極小一部分實驗能夠在某一階段不用動物進行。如果醫(yī)學研究要繼續(xù)進行，消費產(chǎn)品要嚴格檢測，那么在實驗中使用動物的情況不能立刻停止，布萊克默教授相信有時根本不會有替代的方法。

　　Wherever possible, for both ethical and scientific reasons, we do not use animals. But cells live in animals and we can only really see how they behave when they are inside animals. We cannot possibly reproduce in a test tube or a computer model all the complex reactions of the body to a drug or a disease. When it comes to research into heart disease and its effects on the body, or diseases of the brain for example, we do not have adequate substitutes for the use of animals.

　　由于倫理和科學的原因，在任何有可能的地方，我們都不使用動物。但是細胞生長在動物體內(nèi)，只有當它們在動物體內(nèi)時，我們才能真正看清它們?nèi)绾位顒?。我們不可能在試管中或者是在計算機模型中看出肌體對一種藥物或者是一種疾病的復雜反應(yīng)。例如，對心臟病或它對身體的影響，或者對大腦疾病的研究來講，我們沒有合適的東西來代替動物的使用。

　　As research techniques become more advanced, the number of animals used in experiments may decrease, but stopping testing oil animals altogether is a long way away.

　　隨著研究技術(shù)越來越先進，用于實驗的動物數(shù)量會逐漸減少，但是完全停止在動物身上做試驗還有漫長的路要走。

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