Environmental Impact

Waste

Housing animals requires significant resources and care to be dedicated to their survival, despite the procedures which they may be subjected to. Waste from animal presence and housing includes excrement, bedding, and excess food, in addition to the requirements of the experimentation such as syringes, needles, and gavages (19).

The animal’s bodies themselves must also be considered as waste for disposal purposes and can be associated with hazardous exposure depending on the studies performed on them. Services transporting the animals and waste outside of the laboratory may be “unaware of what they are handling and the corresponding hazards it may pose” (20) and may not be as cautious of risks associated with the material as the laboratory may be.

Industries using animals for toxicity and pharmaceutical testing may be contributing to groundwater and soil contamination due to run off from improperly managed laboratory waste handling, removal, and disposal.

Chemicals

Chemical testing is a primary purpose of animal experimentation and hazardous substances are used in every aspect of animal research. Even when the primary research is not chemical related, they are still used for sanitation, disinfection, and sterilisation (21). Some chemicals used for experimentation may have unknown hazardous or carcinogenic properties.

Highly toxic chemicals are also often used to preserve specimens for educational dissections and for veterinary training. Exposure to these substances without appropriate protective equipment can create significant health and environmental hazards. Veterinary schools with high safety standards have failed to meet compliance and may suggest a wider problem with safety surrounding toxic chemicals (22). Improper use and handling of chemicals during procedures or training can expose toxins to the environment beyond the controlled facility.

Some dissection suppliers have acknowledged the risk of preservation chemicals and supply their specimens frozen (23) 

Pollution

Diseases caused by pollution are responsible for 16% of deaths worldwide (23) and there is possible interaction between air pollutants and gene expression affecting human health (24).

Waste from laboratories disposed of by incineration may contain 10-25% of substances which are “hazardous to humans or animals and deleterious to the environment” (25). Particulate matter, organic compounds, pathogens, and radioactive materials may be released as part of the incineration process and exposed into the surrounding environment.

Exposure to these substances can cause cancers and respiratory illness, and can contribute to air and water pollution, acidification, and greenhouse gas emissions in the surrounding environment.

The effectiveness of the incinerator may also be quite reliant on the facility’s management in addition to the facility itself. Accidental spills and mishandling “may release as much or more toxic materials to the environment than the direct emissions. (26) 

Biodiversity

Development of Attitudes

Ethical and ecological appreciation of animals occurs during children’s time through eighth to eleventh year levels at school, approximately 13 to 16 years of age (30). This is often also the time when classroom animal dissection is introduced into science lesson plans.

The presence of animal dissection in science classes and discussion of animals as ‘tools’ or ‘learning instruments’ during a vulnerable and key ethical development stage of life, alongside influenced dietary and lifestyle experiences, may contribute to the degradation of the appreciation of animals and the formulation of categories of animals with which people interact during their adult years, and the subsequent impact of these attitudes on the environment.

Non-animal methods

Many non-animal methods of research use sophisticated computer software which requires climate-controlled environments, data processing facilities, and bio secure storage for tissue samples and cell cultures. However, the considerable reduction, elimination, or multiple-use applications of samples without waste (eg. toxicology testing using a lung-on-a-chip instead of an LD50 test on a mouse), along with a reduction or elimination of transportation, breeding, housing, and physical observation will significantly reduce the energy requirements for research laboratories.

Animals can impact the environment in ways which a computer simulation or tissue sample cannot. Non-animal methods of research cannot escape and spread disease or breed, they do not have lives or deaths which require maintenance or disposal, and they can be endlessly modified without the ethical and ecological impacts of genetic breeding or wild capture.

As many of these ‘alternatives’ to animal use require equipment, either for manufacturing or the laboratory tools themselves, transported from overseas, there may be requirement for these to be transported by air freight. Researchers may also participate in training for use of new methods of research at international locations.

Small-scale medical waste from methods such as bio samples will still require bio-secure disposal at a small environmental cost, and the storage of ethically sourced cadavers may require the use of preservation chemicals

Using digital, virtual, or synthetic models of dissection while adding education about the ecological impact of human interaction with animals during a crucial developmental stage of young-adults may reduce the levels of speciesism amongst those transitioning from school- to working-age and encourage cognitive consideration of the impact of individual choices on animals and the environment.

An analysis of the environmental impacts of animal use in experimentation and education in Australia is essentially non-existent. Initially, greater transparency in the complete number of animals used during the entire experimentation and education process, including those bred as part of genetic modification even if they are not ultimately used in experimentation, would expose the environmental inefficiencies of the current methods of research and highlight the areas for improvement and change.

The pursuit of human knowledge and scientific advancement will always come with an environmental impact. However, that impact can be significantly reduced by embracing energy efficient and ethically sustainable research methods and processes.