Patricia Kendall: Ban animal testing at the new St. Paul's Hospital
Credit to Author: Stephen Snelgrove| Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2019 01:00:36 +0000
There is one thing everyone agrees on: we need better life-saving drugs for humans. But despite what many people think, testing on animals is not effective for the creation of drugs for humans. There are now available high-tech, cost-effective, and human-relevant testing technologies — and a group of Vancouver animal advocates wants Vancouver city council to ensure that the new St. Paul’s Hospital uses only these non-animal alternative technologies in its new hospital laboratories.
Admittedly, there were some early medical advances made with testing on animals. However, these successes have been over-emphasized, and the truth is that cures for major human diseases are not in fact “just around the corner”.
There is an urgent need for medical cures. Every seven minutes a Canadian dies of a heart attack. Every nine minutes a Canadian dies of a stroke. Every three minutes a Canadian is diagnosed with diabetes. Forty per cent of Canadians will get cancer in their lifetimes. Despite decades of animal testing, we still don’t have cures for these diseases in humans.
However, after decades of animal testing, we do have cures for stroke, heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, and most cancers — but only in mice. Not surprisingly, science knows more about animal biology than human biology.
It is not difficult to understand why animals are simply not a good model for studying human diseases. Simply put, we are not 150 lb. rats. That is why at least 95 per cent of drugs tested and found to be safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials. Half of the remaining drugs are withdrawn.
It takes 10 to 15 years and between $1 billion and $2 billion to bring a single drug to market. Even then, we are all familiar with the long lists of side effects associated with prescription drugs. Some drugs end up having lethal consequences for humans.
Animal testing also results in rejection of useful drugs. The life-saving drug aspirin, which works well in humans and is safe even during pregnancy, would not have been approved with testing on animals since it causes birth defects in mice and other animals. How many other valuable drugs have been rejected due to animal testing?
Most Vancouverites would be surprised, even shocked, to learn that animal experimentation takes place at the existing St. Paul’s Hospital on Burrard Street. There is very little, perhaps nothing, that the public and Vancouver city council can do about that animal testing.
However, St. Paul’s is moving to a new site along Main Street. The land has been purchased, but it cannot be used because it is zoned for industrial use only. The hospital has applied to city council for rezoning, and one of the land uses for which it is seeking permission is “laboratories.”
Council cannot adopt this rezoning bylaw without hearing from the public. The city has advised that an official public hearing will be held in the fall. In the meantime, a group of animal advocates has launched a campaign, called Rezoning for the Animals, with the goal of rallying the public to persuade council to rezone the hospital land such that animal testing is not permitted within the new hospital laboratories.
There is no question about it: Animal experimentation is an outdated methodology that produces invalid, often misleading results, and delays meaningful scientific progress. Alternatives to animal testing are less expensive, less time-consuming, more predictive of the human situation — and cause no harm to animals.
Patricia Kendall is a retired Vancouver municipal lawyer, an adjunct family member at UBC, and an animal activist. To learn about and support the Rezoning for Animals campaign, go to rezoningforanimals.com.
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