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Barriers to assessment and treatment of pain in laboratory animals

Lab Animal volume 35, pages 38–43 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Pain is an undesirable potential consequence of many of the procedures conducted on animals in the course of scientific research, and in most cases it is unnecessary. The US Congress, the public, and laboratory animal medical professionals have indicated that pain should be prevented or minimized in laboratory animals, yet there is ample evidence to suggest that unalleviated pain is still a problem for some laboratory animals. This evidence is circumstantial to some extent but has its basis in problematic issues of pain control in both veterinary and human medicine. The author attempts to identify specific barriers to reduction of pain in laboratory animals. She then seeks to determine the relative importance of each obstacle and to develop approaches to overcoming each obstacle.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Paul Flecknell for his significant contribution to this manuscript in his conception of and work at the roundtable discussion on which the manuscript is based.

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  1. Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, 200 Westboro Rd., North Grafton, 01536, MA

    Alicia Z. Karas

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  1. Alicia Z. Karas
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Karas, A. Barriers to assessment and treatment of pain in laboratory animals. Lab Anim 35, 38–43 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0706-38

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