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Resolving Animal Distress And Pain: Principles And Examples Of Good Practice In Various Fields Of Research, Alicia Karas, Matthew C. Leach, Karl A. Andrutis, Kathleen Conlee, John P. Gluck, Andrew N. Rowan, Martin L. Stephens

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Pain and distress are central topics in legislation, regulations, and standards regarding the use of animals in research. However, in practice, pain has received greatly increased attention in recent years, while attention to distress has lagged far behind, especially for distress that is not induced by pain. A contributing factor is that there is less information readily available on distress, including practical information on its recognition, assessment and alleviation.

This chapter attempts to help fill that void by reversing the usual pattern and giving greater attention to distress than to pain. In addition, we also bypass the pain versus distress …

Measurement And Mitigation Of Laboratory Animal Distress Sources Of Distress In The Animal Laboratory, Larry Carbone

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Pain and distress differ, but overlap. For the purposes of this discussion, we will consider pain to involve nociceptive input of stimuli that are potentially tissue damaging, and that further include an unpleasant emotional component (Merskey and Bogduk 1994). Pain need not necessarily induce distress, as when an animal or human willingly undergoes some painful situation in order to achieve a desired reward. In that case, while the pain may be unpleasant, it is not so severe as to be intolerable. Likewise, there are many potential causes of distress that do not involve physical pain.

Report Of The Working Group On Animal Distress In The Laboratory, Marilyn Brown, Larry Carbone, Kathleen Conlee, Marian Dawkins, Ian J. Duncan, David Fraser, Gilly Griffin, Victoria A. Hampshire, Lesley A. Lambert, Joy A. Mench, David Morton, Jon Richmond, Bernard E. Rollin, Andrew N. Rowan, Martin L. Stephens, Hanno Würbel

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Finding ways to minimize pain and distress in research animals is a continuing goal in the laboratory animal research field. Pain and distress, however, are not synonymous, and often measures that alleviate one do not affect the other. Here, the authors provide a summary of a meeting held in February 2004 that focused on distress in laboratory animals. They discuss the difficulties associated with defining ‘distress,’ propose methods to aid in recognizing and alleviating distressful conditions, and provide recommendations for animal research conduct and oversight that would minimize distress experienced by laboratory animals.