US advocacy group Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) has spoken about the importance of animal research in a podcast for Federal News Network (FNN).
AMP Executive Director, Paula Clifford and Communications Director, Jim Newman, were invited on to the programme following a previous interview that was critical of the Veterans Health Administration (VA) for its use of cats in research related to the bodily functions of paraplegics.
Asked about the research, Jim said that 99% of the studies used rats and mice and only used cats and dogs when there was a good biomedical reason.
He told FNN: “VA is pretty remarkable. They’ve been able to help veterans who receive spinal cord injuries that help them breathe, help them cough to clear their breathing channels. That’s something they’ve helped them with. Artificial pancreas, organ transplants – the list is 20 or 30 major items that have been accomplished through animal studies.”
Paula also explained more about AMP: “We do a lot of work with institutions to help them engage with the public and really share what is it about animals that make it so necessary and so important to advance biomedical progress.”