To test or not to test...

Well, yet another round of New Year celebrations have come and gone. Yet, for us here at Laboratory News they continue, for 2011 represents our 40th year serving you, our dear reader. Throughout the coming year we’ll be celebrating with lots of exciting features and we also have what I think will be one of the best giveaways in our long history. Keep your eyes peeled later in the year for that.

Now, on to the business of this issue – and we start the year with a bang. With our new Great Debate section (p21) we dive headlong into the differences which can often come to polarise research and development. Science without exchange of ideas cannot function. Equally science cannot dodge the big questions – even if those questions threaten to shake scientific consensus to its very foundations.

With that in mind we kick off our first Great Debate with the ever thorny issue of animal use in scientific research. Many words have been written and spoken on the subject – but there are remarkably few debates that set out to directly canvass what the scientific community themselves think of the subject. We aim to correct that – we want to get you involved. We want your thoughts, opinions, and ideas – whatever they are.

This month the BUAV set out their stance on why – when it comes to advancing human knowledge using animals as test subjects – they think the means do not justify the ends. Next month the Dr Hadwen Trust layout their thoughts on why technology has advanced to the point where animal testing is no longer the best option for medical research.

It is an issue that is guaranteed to provoke a clash of opinion – and I am of the belief that this confluence of opposition can only be a good thing. Whatever your stance on the subject, I’m sure you’d agree that with something as important as the advancement of medical science, that stance should be exposed to contrasting beliefs. It should be robust enough to hold up to conflicting viewpoints – to buckle under the most gentle of aversions would surely render any belief impotent.

Over the last 40 years Laboratory News has been here for you – and we want you to really get your teeth into this – tell us what you think. I think we will see that however often a void in opinions may highlight our differences, it can also – through debate and reason – underscore the things that unite us.

Happy New Year!

From all at Laboratory News