Print ISSN 2319-2003 | Online ISSN 2279-0780 doi: 10.5455/2319-2003.ijbcp20150430 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | March-April 2015 | Vol 4 | Issue 2 Page 388 Educational Forum Restriction on animal experimentation for medical education and research: pros and cons Rahul Kumar, Sarvesh Singh*, Rishi Pal, Rakesh Kumar Dixit, Rajendra Nath, Narendra Kumar INTRODUCTION Today, medical students, teachers, and researchers are in deep dilemma regarding the use of animals in education, training and research purposes. This state of uncertainty aroused due to lack of proper guidelines regarding animal experimentation and over enthusiasm shown by animal activists. In present context, one needs to setup balance among the actions, responses, and their applications for the society. Medical profession is meant for the betterment of not only human population but also helps in maintaining a proper balance of the ecological system. One should not have an impression that the deeds of medical professionals beneft only human beings and neglect the other species. Use of one species can be utilized for exploring the knowledge and preparing better medicines and techniques to be used in other species. The present article discusses and highlights the different positive and negative aspects involved in animal experimentation in medical education and research. Since ages, animals have been recognized, valuated, and given a very important place in maintaining ecological balance. The different mythologies always respected animals either by preserving or giving them the place of god. When such importance has already been given to animals then how a medical professional can be so cruel to use them indiscriminately. The medical researchers know their boundaries and do their best for the betterment of society. Usually, they are bound by rules and ethics not to jump for experiments directly in the most advanced species, i.e. the human being without having proper prior knowledge. To get the primary knowledge in a proper form, one is bound to expose and do the new in congeners who are very close to human beings. To achieve this, the medical researchers use animals (small and large) depending upon feasibility and suitability for a particular study. The knowledge, ABSTRACT Recently, a lot have been written and discussed about animal experiments and ethics. Still there is too much confusion among academicians and researchers about the future of use of animals in biomedical research and up to what extent their use in laboratory, research institutions, and medical colleges. This article highlighted and discussed about various aspects of this burning issue along with several pros and cons. Keywords: Animal experiments, Ethics, Biomedical research, Drug discovery, Medical education Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Received: 04 February 2015 Accepted: 07 March 2015 *Correspondence to: Dr. Sarvesh Singh Email: drsarveshsingh@gmail. com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.