A $4.5 million project to help reduce animals in medical research will involve the Hunter, but the chances of ending animal experiments appears to be decades away. Login or signup to continue reading The Minns government, which announced the funding on Thursday, said "non-animal technologies" were "beginning to exceed the performance of animal models ".
A government statement said the use of "human cells or tissues" in research were "more biologically similar" to patients. "So medicines being tested are less likely to fail in clinical trials," the statement said. NSW Minister for Medical Research David Harris said "non-animal technologies in medical research are the way forward".
However, it was only two years ago that Hunter Medical Research Institute [HMRI] said available technologies could not replace animals in research. Nonetheless, Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst said she was "relieved to see this funding finally being distributed". "The allocation of these funds originally came from the Coalition, following an inquiry into the use of animals in experimentation," Ms Hurst said.
The NSW parliamentary inquiry, held in 2022, examined the "use of primates and other animals in medical research". Ms Hurst said it "exposed shocking realities occurring behind closed doors in NSW". The inquiry found "animals in experimentation facilities were having their tails and toes cut off, and that procedures were being performed without anaesthesia".
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