Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) on a request from the Commission related to the aspects of the biology and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes

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doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2005.292

Cited by 62 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 218 publications

(278 reference statements)

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“…The relationship between science and law is important, as science can influence the formation of legislative objectives [228] and provide models for delegated legislation [229,230], and scientific evidence can be critical in court proceedings [231]. As stated by Proctor, Carder and Cornish [224] there is "overwhelming evidence of animal sentience", with confidence that most vertebrates have sentient abilities [222][223][224], but there is lack of consensus associated with fish [232,233], invertebrates [234][235][236] and fetal or immature forms of various animals [237][238][239][240]. This statement roughly aligns with the position taken at law, as only some jurisdictions recognize fish, crustacea, cephalopods and fetuses as animals (Table 3).…”

Section: What Is An 'Animal'? 411 Defining the Termmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Uniformity in Australian Animal Protection Law: A Statutory Comparison

Morton

Hebart

Ankeny

et al. 2020

Animals

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Animal welfare is not included in the Australian Constitution, rendering it a residual power of the states and territories. Commentators have suggested that inconsistencies exist between the state and territory statutes, and that a uniform approach would be beneficial. However, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the nature or extent of these purported inconsistencies. This review addresses this gap by providing a state-by-state comparison of animal protection statutes based on key provisions. Utilizing systematic review methodology, every current Australian statute with an enforceable protection provision relating to animal welfare was identified. A total of 436 statutes were examined, with 42 statutes being included in the detailed analysis. The comparison showed that animal protection laws are generally consistent between each Australian jurisdiction and were found to have similar shortcomings, notably including lack of a consistent definition of ‘animal’ and reliance on forms of legal punishment to promote animal welfare which have questionable effectiveness. It is argued that there is a need for attention to definitions of key terms and future consideration of alternative forms of penalties, but that a uniform federal approach may not be necessary to address these shortcomings.

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Section: What Is An 'Animal'? 411 Defining the Termmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Uniformity in Australian Animal Protection Law: A Statutory Comparison

Morton

Hebart

Ankeny

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…The use of embryonic stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasing since they are considered a replacement model for biomedical research and toxicology and allow the analysis of multiple endpoints ranging from acute to developmental toxicity [21]. Fish embryos are considered replacement or refinement models because their developmental stages are likely to experience less or no pain, suffering, or lasting harm [22]. In particular, the zebrafish has become an inevitable animal model for evaluating drug safety and toxicity [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening, In Vitro Antidiabetic, Antioxidant Activities, and Toxicity of Leaf Extracts of Psychotria malayana Jack

Nipun

Khatib

Ahmed

et al. 2021

Plants

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Psychotria malayana Jack belongs to the Rubiacea and is widespread in Southeast Asian countries. It is traditionally used to treat diabetes. Despite its potential medicinal use, scientific proof of this pharmacological action and the toxic effect of this plant are still lacking. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activities, toxicity, and preliminary phytochemical screening of P. malayana leaf extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after derivatization. The antidiabetic activities of different extracts of this plant were investigated through alpha-glucosidase inhibitory (AGI) and 2-NBDG glucose uptake using 3T3-L1 cell line assays, while the antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH and FRAP assays. Its toxicological effect was investigated using the zebrafish embryo/larvae (Danio rerio) model. The mortality, hatchability, tail-detachment, yolk size, eye size, beat per minute (BPM), and body length were taken into account to observe the teratogenicity in all zebrafish embryos exposed to methanol extract. The LC50 was determined using probit analysis. The methanol extract showed the AGI activity (IC50 = 2.71 ± 0.11 μg/mL), insulin-sensitizing activity (at a concentration of 5 µg/mL), and potent antioxidant activities (IC50 = 10.85 μg/mL and 72.53 mg AAE/g for DPPH and FRAP activity, respectively). Similarly, the water extract exhibited AGI activity (IC50 = 6.75 μg/mL), insulin-sensitizing activity at the concentration of 10 μg/mL, and antioxidant activities (IC50 = 27.12 and 33.71 μg/mL for DPPH and FRAP activity, respectively). The methanol and water extracts exhibited the LC50 value higher than their therapeutic concentration, i.e., 37.50 and 252.45 µg/mL, respectively. These results indicate that both water and methanol extracts are safe and potentially an antidiabetic agent, but the former is preferable since its therapeutic index (LC50/therapeutic concentration) is much higher than for methanol extracts. Analysis using GC-MS on derivatized methanol and water extracts of P. malayana leaves detected partial information on some constituents including palmitic acid, 1,3,5-benzenetriol, 1-monopalmitin, beta-tocopherol, 24-epicampesterol, alpha-tocopherol, and stigmast-5-ene, that could be a potential target to further investigate the antidiabetic properties of the plant. Nevertheless, isolation and identification of the bioactive compounds are required to confirm their antidiabetic activity and toxicity.

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“…Though based on incomplete behavioral, morphological, and physiological findings (thus, considering the precautionary principle; EFSA Panel, 2005 ), cephalopods have been included in Directive 2010/63/EU as the only invertebrates among the so-called laboratory animals to be protected in scientific research. Originally adopted within the context of environmental law, the ‘precautionary principle' is based on the idea that in cases of threat of actual or potential irreversible damage to the environment, the lack of complete scientific evidences should not be employed as a reason for postponing measures to be taken in order to avoid or minimize the risks (Cameron and Abouchar, 1991 ; Pinto-Bazurco, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, confronting the mental status of a particular animal may summon consideration of the moral status of that animal, its suitability as a model for cognition and behavior, and the acceptability of its use as a commodity or as an experimental substitute for a more ethically ‘indispensable' organism. This last argument is now particularly relevant for cephalopods, considering their inclusion in EU Directive 2010/63 (Smith et al, 2013 ; Fiorito et al, 2014 ; Di Cristina et al, 2015 ) on the grounds of the public perception of these animals and their presumed ability to feel pain and suffering (EFSA Panel, 2005 ; Smith et al, 2013 ; Di Cristina et al, 2015 ). The fact that they are considered to have a degree of sentience (Birch et al, 2021 ) and may well be capable of at least some form of sensory consciousness would likely be a step forward in defining the parameters of future cephalopod research, including, but not limited to, investigations of behavior and cognition.…”

Section: Young's Cephalopod Model Of the Brain And The Search For Con...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cephalopod Behavior: From Neural Plasticity to Consciousness

Ponte

Chiandetti

Edelman

et al. 2022

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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It is only in recent decades that subjective experience - or consciousness - has become a legitimate object of scientific inquiry. As such, it represents perhaps the greatest challenge facing neuroscience today. Subsumed within this challenge is the study of subjective experience in non-human animals: a particularly difficult endeavor that becomes even more so, as one crosses the great evolutionary divide between vertebrate and invertebrate phyla. Here, we explore the possibility of consciousness in one group of invertebrates: cephalopod molluscs. We believe such a review is timely, particularly considering cephalopods' impressive learning and memory abilities, rich behavioral repertoire, and the relative complexity of their nervous systems and sensory capabilities. Indeed, in some cephalopods, these abilities are so sophisticated that they are comparable to those of some higher vertebrates. Following the criteria and framework outlined for the identification of hallmarks of consciousness in non-mammalian species, here we propose that cephalopods - particularly the octopus - provide a unique test case among invertebrates for examining the properties and conditions that, at the very least, afford a basal faculty of consciousness. These include, among others: (i) discriminatory and anticipatory behaviors indicating a strong link between perception and memory recall; (ii) the presence of neural substrates representing functional analogs of thalamus and cortex; (iii) the neurophysiological dynamics resembling the functional signatures of conscious states in mammals. We highlight the current lack of evidence as well as potentially informative areas that warrant further investigation to support the view expressed here. Finally, we identify future research directions for the study of consciousness in these tantalizing animals.

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Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) on a request from the Commission related to the aspects of the biology and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes

Cited by 62 publications

References 218 publications

Assessing the Uniformity in Australian Animal Protection Law: A Statutory Comparison

Assessing the Uniformity in Australian Animal Protection Law: A Statutory Comparison

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening, In Vitro Antidiabetic, Antioxidant Activities, and Toxicity of Leaf Extracts of Psychotria malayana Jack

Cephalopod Behavior: From Neural Plasticity to Consciousness

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