Book Review: Models for Biomedical Research — A New Perspective

times past and comparing them with the present day outlook, thus putting our current views into perspective. The second contribution, from Derek Blackman, goes on to deal with the problems associated with using animals in psychological experimentation. This is followed by an excellent, down-to-earth, practical paper by Judith Hampson & Sheila Silcock, which focusses attention on specific experiments which could be improved from the point of view of refinement of procedures. The fourth paper, by Jenny Remfry, turns to other aspects of laboratory animal welfare, those of husbandry and personnel training, and the succeeding paper by Roger Ewbank complements it by considering farm as well as laboratory animal welfare. David Britt's paper, which engendered extensive discussion at the meeting, concerns the functioning and problems of animal research review committees, and the application of information gained from overseas to the possible establishment of similar committees in the UK. The dilemma found in countries such as Sweden seemed to be in finding a way to avoid "censoring" membership of the review committee, whilst at the same time preventing membership by individuals who would automatically object to every proposal. The topic of ethical committees was continued in an evening workshop when a useful catalogue of pros and cons was drawn up. The second day of the symposium began with two papers on alternatives. Michael Balls' contribution discussed this subject in broad terms, indicating the large amount of work in progress on the topic and showing that some of the proposed alternatives are themselves not without ethical problems. This paper was followed by John Dixon's more specific paper on tissue culture, listing once again its uses and limitations. The symposium continued with a discussion by Michael Festing on inbred strains. The fear that an effect could be missed in one strain is overcome by using many such strains rather than a mixed lot of outbred animals. The related paper by Norman Marsh asked "How few animals may we use in an experiment?"-a question every researcher using animals asks, for economic if for no other reason. His paper reflects the fact that many workers are cautious of using nonparametric studies. The gem of the whole collection is the final paper by John Dearden on "Mathematical modelling and molecular graphics in drug design". This described some excellent advances in methods of predicting activity from structure-a long-sought goal. As this comes nearer to being achieved, the amount of animal screening carried out will fall. This is a most stimulating paper and further advances from these techniques can only be impatiently awaited. In summary, this supplement to A TLA covers a lot of ground and is to be recommended for readers seeking opinions and practical information on the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experimentation.