Responsibility

When did the first animal studies take place?

Animal studies have been around for thousands of years. The motivation for conducting them, however, has changed over time. In earlier times, it was more about understanding the basics of how the body worked. These days, the focus is on testing active ingredients and substances for their efficacy and safety.

Mentions of info

animal studies can be found even in the first medical textbook of the western world, the Corpus Hippocraticum, which was written between the fifth and third century BC. Galen, the most outstanding physician of antiquity after Hippocrates, also experimented on animals in order to broaden his knowledge.

Galen dissected goats, pigs and apes. The knowledge he acquired in this way was revolutionary for his time. He demonstrated, for example, that what circulated in the arteries was blood rather than air. Galen’s work formed the basis of Galenism, a comprehensive system of medicine which shaped the course of medicine in the western world for more than 1,500 years.

Animal studies were necessary even in those days to explain the way the circulation works.

Circulation of the blood and nerves
With the dawning of the New Age, experimental medicine also received new impetus. In the sixteenth century, for example, Brussels-born physician Andreas Vesalius made new anatomical discoveries by studying human and animal cadavers. In the 17th century, the English physician William Harvey discovered the systemic circulation, partly on the basis of animal studies. And in the mid-18th century, the Swiss natural scientist Albrecht von Haller revealed the way in which the nerves work - based on studies he had conducted in 17 animal species.

Ethical dimension recognized

Of crucial importance to the way in which animal studies were viewed in a medical context were also the findings of Charles Darwin, who demonstrated the relationship between humans and animals in his Theory of Evolution.

In the 19th century, medicine also provided the means of anaesthetizing animals before painful interventions. As a consequence: the number of animal studies increased dramatically - and the discussion regarding the ethical dimension of animal studies thus also came to the fore.

The United Kingdom was the first country in which a law to protect animals was passed - in 1867. It served as a model for similar laws in Bavaria (1880) and Prussia (1885).

Essential basis

These days, animal studies form an essential basis for the development and testing of all medicines - from painkillers, antibiotics and cardiovascular drugs through to vaccines, to mention just a few. The legal principles have continued to evolve during this time. These days, the processes of applying for, approving and conducting animal studies are governed by a strict regulatory framework. And this is in pursuit of two objectives: maximum human safety and optimum animal welfare.