Aren alternatives to animal use — such as computers, widely available to medical researchers?
Scientists use a combination of methods to answer a biomedical question. Indeed, the phrase “alternative” is very misleading, as there are a large variety of experimental techniques, all of which were developed by scientists. Experimental methods that often do not use animals directly include chemical, mechanical, mathematical and computer models. They are theoretical and often useful, especially during preliminary stages of research. However, they rely heavily upon information previously obtained from animal experiments. A biological model system is a system that can be observed instead of the original system, human or animal, that is of ultimate interest to the researcher. Researchers use models because they help to answer questions that could not be answered using the original system with the technology and methods that exist. By using a model, researchers increase their ability to isolate and study certain features which would be too complex to study or impossible to isolate in the
