Humanise basic research in cardiology from here!

If you are not active in basic research on a daily basis, you may wonder what the idea is behind this title and how important this issue really is. It is for sure not meant to indicate that current basic research in cardiology is against our ethical principles. That is not the issue. In the Netherlands there is ongoing debate on the use of laboratory animals for cardiovascular research. There is even a political party active with chosen representatives in parliament, requesting continuous attention for the subject. The debate is useful and important to keep researchers sharp and to force them to minimise the use of animals. The strategy works extremely well in the Netherlands. It is impossible to convince the medical ethics committee of a hospital to include any patients in a trial. At the University Medical Center Utrecht a term of three to four months is the rule with some exceptions going up to 12 months. In reality the situation in animal research is comparable. The main difference is that investigators will give up their efforts if the proposal does not pass in the first six months. The laboratory animal is treated as a patient with respect to post surgical care and pain relief, independent of whether it concerns a mouse or pig. …