Scientific research without animals: an indispensable goal
It has been argued for many years how important scientific research in the medical, pharmacological and scientific fields is to improve the expectancy and quality of life. Scrolling through the annual data of the resources that our country invests in research, we understand not only the smallness compared to the GDP (0.75%), but also what the substantial difference is between “traditional” research (that which involves the use of animals) e the innovative “animal-free” method which is based on technologies that use ethical methodssuch as organoids, clinical tissue tests, mathematical models.
A difference not only ethically, but also in terms of resultsResearch using animal guinea pigs fails before starting tests on humans, in a percentage of 95%. It is clear how necessary and urgent it is to have a transition that progressively abandons that type of research which is now anachronistic, fallacious. , expensive and useless. It is a long journey, given the disparity in amounts invested.
Allocate only 2 million in 2022 and have stopped funding for 2023 (compared to 1 billion and 300 million spent on animal testing) is not only an ethically deplorable choice, but it is also a blind and deaf choice in understanding the future and global challenges for public health. Some Italian universities are moving towards animal-free research, such as the universities of Genoa, Parma and Pisa. Professor Cozzini of the University of Parma, head of the Department of Food and Drug Science, has undertaken an advanced mathematical predictive study relating to the mutations of the spike protein of Sars CoV2.
The University of Pavia, Department of Medicine is carrying out in-depth research on the effects of ethanol using an innovative technology that reproduces the human gastrointestinal system. The University of Genoa and the IRCCS Cell Bank have undertaken research aimed at replacing tissues and animal fecal serum. the University of Pisa develops technologies for researching the harmfulness of inhaled substances. Other universities and research centers are awaiting new funding availability to undertake this new path. Many researchers, especially young graduates, would like to try their hand at this type of study, but the refresher courses, funding and structures are still too limited.
The 2024 budget law does not provide for appropriations for animal-free research. The animal rights associations have asked for an amendment that reintroduces this allocation. In other European countries, important choices have been made that are diametrically opposed to the unreasonable choice of the Meloni Government. The Netherlands has allocated 125 million euros for the creation of a new animal-free testing centre. Germany has financed 5 bio-medical research centers with 2.5 million euros.
Animal-free research is faster, more reliable, and more innovative. The pandemic teaches or should teach how important it is to invest resources in modern and effective research. Our future and the future and health of the new generations are at stake.
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