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Notions changing on the pain factor

BY BRYN NELSON | STAFF WRITER

September 26, 2004

Until the early 1980s, doctors routinely performed surgery on newborns without anesthesia under the assumption that babies couldn't feel pain.

Now, they know better.

Many biomedical researchers once operated under a similar notion that animals couldn't feel pain until a rash of studies suggested otherwise, from primates to rodents.

Last year, the debate over pain moved to fish. And in July, Koko the gorilla used American Sign Language to tell her handlers at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, Calif., that she was in pain, prompting a medical exam and tooth extraction.

Polls suggest a majority of Americans support using animals for research, but support can drop considerably if the animals are perceived to be in pain.

"The issue is not death," said Dr. Alan Beck, director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine. "We kill, literally, more chickens daily than all the animals used yearly in research. The issue is perceived pain and suffering."

And as the ample attention to Koko's plight demonstrates, public concern over animals remains largely species-specific. "People don't get too excited about the mice and rats, and the guinea pigs," Beck said.

For primates seen as humanlike in their intelligence, however, or for dogs and cats considered part of the family, perceptions of unmitigated pain and distress can turn uneasiness to outrage.

The Humane Society of the United States, in the June issue of its "Pain & Distress Report," noted approvingly that the issue has received increased attention from the research community.

But even as scientists are trumpeting the declining use of cats and dogs in biomedical experiments and an increasing shift to rats and mice, the role of primates has remained relatively unchanged.

U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics also suggest a shift away from using cats and dogs in painful or distressing experiments, but a reverse trend in the use of both hamsters and primates.