IUBio

I would like to study biology but....

Geoff Crawford access_academix at optusnet.com.au
Tue Feb 1 23:05:57 EST 2000


Geoff Crawford replies:

Not necessarily so!  It is often the adjuvant that cause pain/discomfort but
this does not necessarily need to be added.  Exsanguination is rarely used
for commercial production of valuable antisera, eg production of antisera in
sheep, goats, donkeys, horses etc...

civersen <rczci at unix.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:Pine.SOL.4.05.10001311439450.29923-100000 at granby...
>
> On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, Geoff Crawford wrote:
>
> > I agree that in immunology it is difficult to avoid the use of animals
in
> > the production of antibodies but can this be rationalised in some way.
For
> > example, growing antibodies involves vaccination of the animal and
removal
> > of some blood from the animal at a later date.  For the rest of the time
the
> > animal may live a relatively comfortable life!
>
> The antigen often makes the animal ill - therefore immune response to it.
> The animal is also usually 'exsanguinated' i.e ALL the blood removed.
>
> However I have managed to purse a career in cancer immunology (Biology O &
> A levels, BSc (Hons) Applied Biology, PhD) without handling / disecting /
> experimenting on a single whole animal alive or dead (we used abatoir
> specimens of organs/blood, computer generated disection).  I currently use
> peripheral blood from consenting patients, though this is a very difficult
> route compared to using animals it has advantages when the final product
> is aquired.  I do use commercial animal products eg fetal calf serum,
> mouse monoclonals; there are ways round this (serum free medium) if you
> are concerned about it to that degree but I would question the point of
> pursuing a career in biology if that was the case.  It is actually quite
> difficult these days to get a licence for an animal experiment and strict
> criteria are employed.
>
> C Iversen
> Cancer Research Laboratories
> University of Nottingham
>






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