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Nature 441, 570-571 (1 June 2006) | doi:10.1038/441570a; Published online 31 May 2006; Corrected 2 June 2006

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Bioethics: An easy way out?

Emma Marris1

  1. Emma Marris reports for Nature from Washington DC.

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Scientists say they gas mice and rats with carbon dioxide because it is humane. It's also simple, cheap and keeps their hands clean. Emma Marris analyses the final seconds of the lab rodents' life.

"One uses CO2 to knock the animal out, and it takes a bit longer than you would like — about a minute," explains Abigail Witherden, a post-doctoral kidney researcher at Imperial College London describing the death of a mouse. Then, to be sure: "you break its neck".

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