ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE INVESTIGATION WITH ANIMALS

The experimentation with animals has allowed an increasingly accelerated development of biological knowledge of man's well-being and that of the animals themselves. To avoid or to diminish the suffering of the committed species has been an object of numerous studies in the last decades. It is ethically admitted that neither medicines, nor substances or devices must be used in human beings until previous tests performed in animals allow a reasonable assumption of innocuousness. In the present work we outline the historical sequence of the introduction of ethical principles in research developed with the use of animals, we discuss the care, maneuvers and appropriate warnings that must be completed depending on the type of experiment and on the animal of choice, and the possible adoption of alternative methods to replace them. Finally, existing regulations are mentioned regarding the researcher's responsibility regarding the final product of his work. We think that scientific and technological advance has opened a new spectrum of commitments, and investigators cannot ignore that their role implies a great social responsibility.