Carefully regulated, humane animal research is the foundation of nearly every major medical advance in the last century, and promises to be equally essential to the next century’s progress.

Neuroscientists are key players in charting a path to greater understanding of diseases and disorders of the brain and improved health outcomes. Researchers have found new treatment options for soldiers who have lost limbs as well as potential ways to spot and treat Alzheimer’s disease earlier. All of this progress relies on animal studies to understand brain function and ensure safe and effective therapies.

SfN engages in advocacy efforts in support of animal research, while also implementing strong programs to educate the public on the importance of animal research, helping researchers who experience animal rights extremism, and providing other support to members conducting animal research.

FAST FACTS

• Nearly all research animals are rodents—mice and rats—bred specifically for research. Dogs, cats, and non-human primates together account for less than one percent of the total.
• Animal research for animal health has resulted in many life-saving and life-extending treatments for cats, dogs, farm animals, wildlife, and endangered species.
• The 1999 USDA Annual Report revealed that 55 percent of all research procedures with animals involved no more than slight or momentary pain or distress (i.e. an injection). Thirty-six percent of the research procedures employed anesthesia and postoperative painkillers.
• Some achievements of animal research:
  • Smallpox has been eradicated from the face of the earth.
  • More than 553,000 men and women undergo, and survive, coronary bypass surgery each year.
  • The 420,000 patients who receive hip and knee replacements each year no longer face confinement in wheelchairs or great difficulty and pain when walking.
  • More than 1,200 leukemia patients, many of them children, receive life-saving bone marrow transplants each year.