Researchers promote ethical experiments

In a bid to gain greater global recognition and improve the accuracy of results, laboratories in China have started to adopt Western standards for the treatment and welfare of animals used in scientific tests. Xu Wei reports.

Even though he spent seven years training at vet school, Zhou Quan still faced a steep learning curve when he started his professional career. The problem wasn't a lack of clinic knowledge or technical proficiency, but the treatment of animals used in laboratory tests, and the respect, or lack of it, shown to them.

"The rule is that animals are capable of feelings, just like human beings. If you wouldn't want to be treated a certain way, then neither would they," said the 29-year-old, who works for Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute Co.