Wondering if Pharmacology degree will involve testing on live animals?
Hi guys.
Basically I have sent off my UCAS form and have applied to Cardiff, Southampton, Bath, Portsmouth and Leicester. I was wondering if any of these courses involve LIVE animal testing? I'm not too worried about using animal tissue extracted from an animal but will have a massive problem if the animal is actually alive (bit of an animal lover really..) I've read through the courses on the university websites and it doesn't mention anything about animal testing...
Oh and also, sorry this is in the 'Pharmacy' section but there isn't a 'Pharmacology' section that I could see! Sorry if this has already been asked.
Basically I have sent off my UCAS form and have applied to Cardiff, Southampton, Bath, Portsmouth and Leicester. I was wondering if any of these courses involve LIVE animal testing? I'm not too worried about using animal tissue extracted from an animal but will have a massive problem if the animal is actually alive (bit of an animal lover really..) I've read through the courses on the university websites and it doesn't mention anything about animal testing...
Oh and also, sorry this is in the 'Pharmacy' section but there isn't a 'Pharmacology' section that I could see! Sorry if this has already been asked.
My course (at University of Glasgow) had an optional in vivo ('live' animal testing) part.
BUT, if you really have such a strong opinion on animal testing I wouldn't apply to pharmacology. Your career/further research would most probably involve some form of animal testing, either by yourself or you will be a in direct line to it. This is because all drugs HAVE TO have been tested on animals before they are approved.
BUT, if you really have such a strong opinion on animal testing I wouldn't apply to pharmacology. Your career/further research would most probably involve some form of animal testing, either by yourself or you will be a in direct line to it. This is because all drugs HAVE TO have been tested on animals before they are approved.
Original post by BigDirty
My course (at University of Glasgow) had an optional in vivo ('live' animal testing) part.
BUT, if you really have such a strong opinion on animal testing I wouldn't apply to pharmacology. Your career/further research would most probably involve some form of animal testing, either by yourself or you will be a in direct line to it. This is because all drugs HAVE TO have been tested on animals before they are approved.
BUT, if you really have such a strong opinion on animal testing I wouldn't apply to pharmacology. Your career/further research would most probably involve some form of animal testing, either by yourself or you will be a in direct line to it. This is because all drugs HAVE TO have been tested on animals before they are approved.
At least there's a plus side to what might be a quite boring course.
I'm doing Pharmacology to hopefully post grad to Medicine so I'm hoping that my future career wont come to that but thank you!
That's an odd choice of undergrad degree for graduate medicine. There are plenty of other degrees more appropriate that won't give you anxieties about in vivo work. Whilst there is a pharmacology element.t to medicine this is nowhere near the level in a pharmacy degree. For medicine you are better off with physiology, anatomical sciences or biomedical science courses.
Is it optional to do live animal testing at Bath?
Just to let you all know, I have emailed the uni's I have applied to to check whether they do experiment with live animals on this course.
Southampton and Portsmouth don't! And I'm still waiting to hear back from the rest. Thank you all for your replies.
Southampton and Portsmouth don't! And I'm still waiting to hear back from the rest. Thank you all for your replies.
Original post by pharmgirl
Original post by pharmgirl
That's an odd choice of undergrad degree for graduate medicine. There are plenty of other degrees more appropriate that won't give you anxieties about in vivo work. Whilst there is a pharmacology element.t to medicine this is nowhere near the level in a pharmacy degree. For medicine you are better off with physiology, anatomical sciences or biomedical science courses.
Pharmacology degrees at both Cardiff and Leicester both offer the choice to transfer to their post grad medicine courses after your degree. After speaking to many different post graduate doctors, many of them have opted for Pharmacology as their first degree before medicine.
I should hope not.
It will be completely unnecessary to test on live animals solely for the purpose of higher education.
It will be completely unnecessary to test on live animals solely for the purpose of higher education.
In their career as a practicising pharmocologist in industry they will test new medication on animals, therefore in their degree they will practice it so they don't mess up genuine clinical trials after graduating..
It's not nice by any stretch of the imagination but it is necessary in my opinion anyways.. Each to their own though
It's not nice by any stretch of the imagination but it is necessary in my opinion anyways.. Each to their own though
My Pharmacology research project involved the use of tissue from a recently killed rat, I required one heart every day for six weeks (and it would quite often still be beating after removal from the bijoux tube to petri dish... :O )
Original post by MillieBurbage
Is it optional to do live animal testing at Bath?
Sorry for the late reply. Nope it is not optional. I REALLY REALLY urge you to reconsider doing pharmacology if you are against testing on live animals because I very much doubt you will be ok with testing on recently dead ones either. There is a guy on our course who hates the animal testing side of it and because of that is really not enjoying the course at all.
Do something like biochem if you're just doing it to get into medicine.
Ok thank you for your reply! Thank you for your consideration! I have done a dissection on a rat before at school and been absolutely fine and I am not squeamish in anyway, I think the main issue for me is actually putting the animal through pain or discomfort purely for my education.
Its too late now anyway! My UCAS has been sent and I have received 2 offers, although I think I'll head for the Uni's which only carry out experimentation on dead tissue.
Its too late now anyway! My UCAS has been sent and I have received 2 offers, although I think I'll head for the Uni's which only carry out experimentation on dead tissue.
Not 100% sure about how you guys do things in the UK, but by what I've heard you have stricter ethics boards than in Canada; and we have strict boards so that's saying something.
While we do have live animal testing they're always under anesthesia (high quality anesthetics at that), so they do not feel pain during any operation. Depending on what is being tested the mouse could experience pain and discomfort later, but it's always minimized as much as possible. Also, if a study requires an animal to experience pain there is usually tough requirements to justify that, and the number of animals tested is minimized.
My experience from a lab newbie to performing surgery was the following:
Pass an ethics examination which required 12hs of lecture
Undergo handling technique training - 2hs lecture, 2hs practical
Undergo surgery training - 2hs lecture, 4hs practical
Perform non-recovery surgery for 6 months (where a mouse that is being sacrificed for another reason, not just for my practice, is sacrificed in a pain-free method)
Performing recovery surgery
So to even touch a mouse or rat you need to have tons of training, as to even inject a mouse with saline solution requires step 1 & 2. To do something that might actually cause pain requires much more training.
While we do have live animal testing they're always under anesthesia (high quality anesthetics at that), so they do not feel pain during any operation. Depending on what is being tested the mouse could experience pain and discomfort later, but it's always minimized as much as possible. Also, if a study requires an animal to experience pain there is usually tough requirements to justify that, and the number of animals tested is minimized.
My experience from a lab newbie to performing surgery was the following:
Pass an ethics examination which required 12hs of lecture
Undergo handling technique training - 2hs lecture, 2hs practical
Undergo surgery training - 2hs lecture, 4hs practical
Perform non-recovery surgery for 6 months (where a mouse that is being sacrificed for another reason, not just for my practice, is sacrificed in a pain-free method)
Performing recovery surgery
So to even touch a mouse or rat you need to have tons of training, as to even inject a mouse with saline solution requires step 1 & 2. To do something that might actually cause pain requires much more training.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by MillieBurbage
Ok thank you for your reply! Thank you for your consideration! I have done a dissection on a rat before at school and been absolutely fine and I am not squeamish in anyway, I think the main issue for me is actually putting the animal through pain or discomfort purely for my education.
Its too late now anyway! My UCAS has been sent and I have received 2 offers, although I think I'll head for the Uni's which only carry out experimentation on dead tissue.
Its too late now anyway! My UCAS has been sent and I have received 2 offers, although I think I'll head for the Uni's which only carry out experimentation on dead tissue.
Hi, I know it’s been 11 years but please could you let me know how things worked out in the end? I’m thinking of applying to Cardiff medical pharmacology - what’s the course like and the job availability? There’s not much information online so your help would be greatly appreciated!
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