FBR Blog
Easy-to-read articles about animal testing and research.
On the cutting edge of canine cancer research
“I just got the biopsy results back, and my little girl has an adrenal sarcoma,” wrote the owner of an 11-year-old Shih Tzu in an online support group for people whose pets have been diagnosed with cancer. “I'm so scared—for her and for myself. She's my baby, my best...
Animal Rights Groups Say the Porsolt Swim Test is Unnecessary. But is it?
Image depicts a rodent swimming in a natural setting. With more than 300 million people living with depression worldwide, pressure is mounting to find treatments and drugs that will help patients. However, with limited knowledge about the underlying causes of...
Would This Nobel Prize Have Been Awarded Without Mice?
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to American immunologist Jim Allison and Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.” The award honors researchers for outstanding...
Measles outbreak in United States and Europe: The dangerous result of science-denial
The measles virus is untreatable. In about 30 percent of affected patients, many of whom are infants and children, complications can lead to blindness, as well as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain—both of which are potentially fatal. Despite the availability of...
With monkeys, researchers make progress in the search for a vaccine against HIV
The 2018 International AIDS Conference is underway from July 23 to 27, right on the heels of some exciting developments in the research world. A pair of new studies with non-human primates and people found an experimental HIV vaccine could potentially offer lifelong...
National HIV Testing Day: Animal Research’s Role in Treatment
National HIV Testing Day is Wednesday, June 27 and we’re taking a look back to see all the progress that’s been made with HIV testing and treatment and the advancements yet to come. In 1984, French and American scientists discovered that a retrovirus (HIV—Human...
Keeping Up with Psoriasis
In July 2011, Keeping Up with The Kardashians, a reality TV show, released a video that surprised fans. Kim Kardashian was diagnosed with psoriasis, a skin condition she shares with her “mom-ager,” Kris Jenner. Since her diagnosis, Kim has tried a variety of remedies...
Four of the Biggest Health Risks Men Face and Animal Research’s Role in Treatments
Today, the United States and other countries around the world are celebrating Father's Day. In recognition of all the men (fathers and nonfathers alike) in our lives, we have compiled a list of the four biggest health risks for men and the many ways animal research is...
Animal Research Offers Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Patients Like Senator Harry Reid
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid underwent surgery May 14 to excise a tumor from his pancreas, which was discovered during a routine screening. The veteran lawmaker’s surgeons are positive about his prognosis, and he will soon receive chemotherapy...
Animal Testing Offers Hope for Endangered Northern White Rhino
The last male northern white rhino, named Sudan, died on March 20, 2018. He leaves behind two females—both unable to reproduce naturally—along with any hope of saving the species without scientific intervention. Of the six species of rhino, the northern...
Are You Excited for Your Colonoscopy?
In Feb. 2000, President Clinton designated March National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. One month later, Katie Couric famously televised her colonoscopy on the Today show to promote screenings for colorectal cancer—the disease to which she had lost...
Stephen Hawking Supported Animal Research
The physicist Stephen W. Hawking died on March 14, 2018 at age 76. A memorable quote from his obituary in The New York Times reads: “Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of...
Ebola: Should We Be Concerned?
“You bleed like a hemophiliac who has been in a fistfight. Your skin develops bruises and goes pulpy, and tears easily, and becomes speckled with purple hemorrhages called petechiae, and erupts in a maculopapular rash that has been likened to tapioca...
Lena Dunham, Dolly Parton, and New Frontiers in Women’s Health Research
By August 2017 the actress and writer Lena Dunham, 31, was fighting pain in her pelvic area that was so severe and unremitting she explained it made her delirious. “It hurts so bad that the human voices around me have become a sort of nonsense Teletubbies...
Did the Common Cold Interfere with Dreams of Olympic Gold?
The 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang concluded on Feb. 25 with an elaborate closing ceremony. As athletes, coaches, and staff return home to their respective countries, some are still recovering from illnesses including the common cold. Along with...
Tackling CTE at Super Bowl LII
In 2009, Ann McKee, MD, director of the brain bank at the Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center, pulled out a photograph of a tissue sample from the brain of a deceased eighteen-year-old. “I’m not allowed to talk about how he died,” she explained to the...
Smoking during pregnancy: Do you know all the risks?
This week, in honor of National Birth Defects Prevention Month (January), the National Birth Defects Prevention Network has published several warnings against the dangers of smoking during pregnancy. After years of coordinated efforts by lawmakers, public...
Weight-Loss Surgery Myths Dispelled with Animal Research
Last week’s FBR blog examines the growing rates of obesity in pet cats and dogs, as well as interventions reached through animal research that could help curb the epidemic. This post is devoted to the myths surrounding bariatric weight-loss...