A leading animal rights group wants four big drug makers to abandon a decades-old test that has been used for antidepressant research, over concerns the testing may traumatize rodents while failing to yield any reliable outcomes for drug development.
At issue is the so-called forced swim test in which mice, rats, guinea pigs, and gerbils are placed in beakers filled with water and forced to swim in order to keep from drowning. The test has been used to gauge the effectiveness of antidepressants on the theory that an animal will swim or struggle longer, and spend less time floating, after being given one of these pills.
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This test is bad science.
The age of animal experimentation and testing is over. It’s time experimenters used more relevant methods to test and prove their theories and results. No animal should suffer such horrific abuse.
These drug makers are stuck in the Dark Ages. Progressive scientists rely on innovative technology, not cruel tests on animals, to generate accurate results that can help humans. They should stop these barbaric experiments now.
This crude and cruel test needs to be stopped. Not only does it cause tremendous panic, stress, and suffering for these animals, it is not a remotely accurate model of depression in humans.