Applied research is used to solve specific and practical problems, often relating to the treatment or cure of disease and disorder in humans. This type of research is generally carried out in universities and pharmaceutical companies where they use animals who have been genetically modified to mimic certain diseases in humans. Genetic modification - Where animals have specific genes inserted, modified or removed with the purpose of modeling a specific human condition, The animals are then used to either test “theoretical” cures or are observed to watch how specific diseases develop. Pharmaceutical companies, medical research institutes, scientists, politicians and professional researchers widely endorse the above mentioned techniques, describing their research as “an increasingly important role in the discovery and development of new medicines”. However, animal rights and welfare groups regularly question the value and effectiveness of these techniques as animals do not always model human diseases accurately. The Genetic Engineering Pressure Group GeneWatch UK, calls genetic modification, “highly inefficient, wasteful of anima lives”, and calls for, “balancing the needs of people for drugs with the welfare and integrity of the animal species”. Xenotransplantation - This involves transplanting living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Current research involves using primates as recipients for pig hearts. The U.S. FDA has written that, “the research is driven by the fact that the demand for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the supply” (1).
Reference: (1) http://www.fda.gov/CBER/XAP/XAP.htm |
|||
|
|||