Islamic Ethics Regarding Experimental Animals

We often hear the term "guinea pig" (or "test rabbit"). Indeed, rabbits are frequently used as experimental subjects in research. They are often used, for instance, to test drugs whose efficacy or potential dangers are unknown. Islam provides guidelines regarding this matter.

The website http://fkh.ipb.ac.id/ discusses the principles of animal welfare in biomedical research. There are three fundamental principles for applying animal welfare in biomedical research: respecting the form of life or the animal itself (*respect*), analyzing benefits and harms (*beneficence*), and upholding fairness (*justice*). Furthermore, ethical principles for conducting research involving animals must adhere to the "3Rs" (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) and the "5 Freedoms" (*freedom*).

*Respect* entails valuing the animal as a form of life and a creation of Allah SWT. This prevents us from conducting research that lacks utility—research driven merely by curiosity. Examples include repeated injections or multiple surgeries performed solely to minimize the total number of animals used, or the use of non-recommended euthanasia drugs that cause pain or dangerous side effects simply because they are cheaper than the recommended options.

In the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, the World Medical Association established guidelines for the use of animals in research. Research must be scientifically grounded. It states, "..... the welfare of animals used for research must be respected."

The principle of *Replacement* involves avoiding the use of animals in research whenever possible—for example, by using organ, tissue, or cell cultures instead of live animals. Additionally, efforts should be made to use animals of a "lower" biological order; for instance, substituting monkeys with rats, rats with poultry, poultry with fish, and so on.

The second principle, *Reduction*, involves developing strategies to use fewer animals while still generating the same amount of data. The goal is to maximize the information gained from an experiment without increasing the number of animals or the extent of treatments (and the associated pain caused by research procedures), thereby maximizing benefits while avoiding additional suffering or an increase in the number of test animals. The principle of Refinement involves modifying husbandry management or research procedures to enhance animal welfare and to reduce or eliminate pain and stress in test animals.

These three ethical principles must be combined with the "Five Freedoms" of animal welfare: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom from fear and distress; and freedom to express natural behavior.

Biomedical research requires the involvement of veterinarians in both its execution and oversight. Furthermore, research proposals must obtain approval and undergo supervision by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) established at various institutions and universities. IPB, for instance, has an Ethics Committee responsible for evaluating, supervising, and providing input on research involving test animals. Scientific journals even require the inclusion of an ethics committee approval letter as a prerequisite for publication. ****