by Bryan Grimmelt 
     
    
   
   
    
     Many of the important 
     
     issues on the use of Labora- 
     
     tory animals in Canada were 
     
     explored at the Fall Sympo- 
     
     of Atlantic Provinces 
     
     Interuniversity Council held 
     
     at the Atlantic Veterinary 
     
     College on November 14/87. 
     
    

    
     The organizer of the 
     
     Dr. J. Amend, said 
     
     “the most important thing is 
     
     to keep everybody fully con- 
     
     scious of how acutely’ aware 
     
    
   
   
    
     sium 
     
    
   
   
    
     event, 
     
    
   
   
    
     we have to be of the quality 
     
     of animal care”. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In Canada just under 
     
     two million animals a year 
     
     are used in testing and re- 
     
     search. 
     
    
   
   
    
     de- 
     
    
   
   
    
     scribed the structure, func- 
     
    
   
   
    
     Dean Thomson 
     
     tions, and curriculum of the 
     
     Atlantic Veterinary College 
     
     to begin the Symposium. 
     
     Dr. Fred Markham, 
     
     Associate professor of Im- 
     
     munology at A.V.C. opened 
     
     the 
     
     sion on the use of fish in re- 
     
     “T suspect that the 
     
    
   
   
    
     sessions with a discus- 
     
     search. 
     
     interest in using fish as re- 
     
     search animals will increase 
     
     as time goes on” Markham 
     
     said. Fish are presently the 
     
     third most common animal, 
     
     behind rats and mice, used in 
     
     laboratory research. 
     
    

    
     The reasons for the in- 
     
     creased use of fish in research 
     
     are “because they are there” 
     
     (a basic motivation for all 
     
     science), because they are 
     
     very useful “to detect and 
     
     assess the effects of pollu- 
     
     tants” and because of the in- 
     
     creased interest in Aquacul- 
     
     ture, Markham said. 
     
    

    
     Fish are being used in 
     
     bioengineering studies in- 
     
     cluding transfer of specific 
     
     genes into salmon eggs. 
     
    

    
     Dr. Rick Cawthorn, 
     
     Associate Professor of Par- 
     
     asitology at A.V.C.,  fol- 
     
     lowed up with a very in- 
     
     teresting seminar on some 
     
     of the common parasitic or- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ganisms which are trans- 
     
     mitted between animals and 
     
     man. Cryptosporiodosis is 
     
    
   
   
    
     one of the major diseases 
     
     which kills immunocompro- 
     
     mised individuals including 
     
     AIDS Cawthorn 
     
     said. 
     
     This 
     
    
   
   
    
     common in 
     
    
   
   
    
     patients, 
     
    
   
   
    
     organism is very 
     
    
   
   
    
     calves, lambs, 
     
    
   
   
    
     goats, and companion an- 
     
    
   
   
    
     imals and is often passed 
     
     from people to people in day- 
     
     cares, bars, by sexual prac- 
     
     tices, as well as from con- 
     
     taminated food 
     
     Two other common diseases 
     
     transmitted from animals to 
     
     man,Toxoplasmosis and Gia- 
     
     rdiasis( Travellers Diarrhea), 
     
     were discussed. The spread 
     
     of all these organisms is 
     
     “easy enough to control with 
     
     education and Hygiene”, (in- 
     
     cluding boiling your drink- 
     
     ing water when in strange 
     
    
   
   
    
     places) Cawthorn said. 
     
    
   
   
    
     and water. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The presentation by Dr. 
     
     Carolyn Runyon, Associate 
     
     professor of Orthopedics at 
     
    
   
   
    
     A.V.C., on reintroducing the 
     
     river otter into Iowa, was a 
     
     refreshing description of how 
     
     scientific knowledge, prop- 
     
     erly applied, can work with 
     
     nature. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Dr. Andy Tasker, As- 
     
     sistant Professor of Pharma- 
     
     cology at A.V.C., discussion 
     
     on “Pain and Stress in an- 
     
     imal research” brought into 
     
     focus the “nebulous concept” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “We tend to ap- 
     
     ply our own stan- 
     
     dards to 
     
     animal populations 
     
     both for what we 
     
     consider innocuous 
     
     and harmless’. and 
     
    
   
   
    
     what we experience 
     
     as pain” 
     
    
   
   
    
     that what_is upsetting to a 
     
     human is upsetting to an an- 
     
     imal. “We tend to, as hu- 
     
     mans...apply our own stan- 
     
     dards to animal populations 
     
     both for what we consider 
     
     innocuous and harmless and 
     
     what we experience as pain”, 
     
     Tasker said. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Where a _ hysterectomy 
     
     results in extreme and ex- 
     
     tended pain in humans possi- 
     
     bly due to tremendous emo- 
     
     tional overlay, in dogs and 
     
     cats the use of anesthetics 
     
     is felt to be more stress- 
     
     ful than the pain associated 
     
     with the operation because 
     
     of the clouding of sensory 
     
     functions. 
     
    
   
   
    
     We cannot extropolate 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘human behavior in periods of 
     
    
   
   
    
     pain and stress to animals, 
     
     Tasker said. Rats, the most 
     
     common animal used in re- 
     
     search, will curl up and be- 
     
     come almost cataleptic when 
     
    
   
   
    
     under severe stress. This 
     
     anxiety is easily overlooked 
     
     by people unfamiliar with 
     
     this aspect of rat behavior, 
     
     Tasker said adding “We as 
     
     researchers. define levels .of 
     
     pain and stress that are spe- 
     
     cific to each species, not only 
     
     for political purposes, but for 
     
     purposes of personal and sci- 
     
     entific integrity.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     Dr. Bill Rapley, Director 
     
     of Animal care-at the Univer- 
     
     sity of Western Ontario, fol- 
     
     lowed with a talk on “Bioeth- 
     
     ical Considerations for the 
     
     Animal Research Facility”. 
     
     Since the University of West- 
     
     ern Ontario has been the 
     
     primary target for animal 
     
     rights groups, Rapley finds 
     
    
   
   
    
     his position to be “jammed 
     
     in the middle and every- 
     
     body is coming from all di- 
     
     rections”. ‘Animal rights 
     
     groups send me hate mail” 
     
     Rapley said. 
     
    

    
     He pointed out that de- 
     
     fence of the need of animal 
     
     research is a difficult area be- 
     
     cause the media is very hun- 
     
     gry for sensationalist stories 
     
     which animal rights groups 
     
     rely on and where distortions 
     
     are easy and common. 3 
     
    

    
     In the extremist Animal 
     
     liberation groups the “major 
     
     players are few and very vo- 
     
     cal, the number of truly fa- 
     
     natical people is very lim- 
     
     ited” Rapley said. Every-