Animal experiments: transferability to humans and feasibility

This article provides a critical discussion on the relevance of animal experiments for biomedical basic research, what importance they have and what prerequisites are necessary for animal experiments. It is the aim of this article to dispute this topic which is of high ethical relevance. The topic has been discussed for a long time as a contentious issue in our society. It is important to accept that animal experiments in the field of basic research are not necessarily designed to address questions of translation of results to humans. A focus of the discussion on the meaningfulness of animal experiments on the foundation of transfer of such results to humans is therefore not the main aim. Furthermore, there are multiple reasons why such experiments fail to reach their aim despite very promising initial results. Such reasons are partly due to methodological limitations which are justified in the aims of animal protection itself, e. g. low numbers of cases. The aim of this article is to encourage the reader to promote a differentiated handling of this sensitive topic in our society.