An introduction to the recognition of pain, suffering and distress in laboratory animals
PIL AB Article
Being able to recognise animal pain, distress and suffering is an essential skill for anyone working with laboratory animals.
Recognition of Pain, Suffering and Distress (EU5)
Identify the normal condition and behaviour of experimental animals and differentiate between a normal animal and one which is showing signs of pain, suffering or distress.
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Why animal welfare matters in research
PIL AB Article
Pain and distress cause changes to the animal’s body systems, either directly or indirectly, and this can increase the variability in your research data.
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Assessing animals
PIL AB Article
In order to recognise any pain, distress and suffering, we need to recognise the positive signs of health and good welfare in the animals that we work with.
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Recording and scoring animals
PIL AB Article
Careful records of what is abnormal in an animal, and also what is normal need to be made.
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Managing pain and distress
PIL AB Article
Once you have recognised signs of poor health or welfare, you need to take corrective action.
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Humane endpoints
PIL AB Article
The EU Directive and the national legislation (A(SP)A in the UK) requires you to avoid using death as an endpoint in studies.
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Severity classifications
PIL AB Article
Often humane endpoints are set to prevent an animal exceeding the severity limits assigned to a particular research protocol.
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Cumulative suffering
PIL AB Article
Although a judgement of the severity of a procedure may simply look at the most painful or distressing technique to be applied to the animal, this ignores the overall effect of all of the techniques involved in a research procedure.
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EU5 Learning Outcomes
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