Ethics review of animal research

This chapter provides an overview of ethics review within animal experimentation. It begins by looking briefly at the history of ethics review and its philosophical underpinning, including a reflection on the different public perspectives that form the backdrop, in order to understand why ethics review has become part of animal experimentation regulation. The chapter examines how ethics review is done, and addresses where in the regulatory system that review takes place, and who is involved in doing it. The idea that research should undergo ethical or ethics review is likely to have originated in research involving humans. The animal rights perspective that attributes animals’ absolute rights which are not to be overruled by human interests is present in the public debate. The chapter looks at the benefits derived from animal experimentation from a technical perspective.