• Question: Does your work harm any animals or the enviourment in any way?

    Asked by laryleprechaun to Chris, Michelle, Jennie, Emmanuel, Alberto on 15 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by lottie101, amberxox.
    • Photo: Chris Whittle

      Chris Whittle answered on 15 Jun 2013:

      I don’t directly work with animals, but a lot of people in my department work with mice. We have to use mice because we have to test drugs on animals before we can think about using them on humans.

      It is not pleasant having to use animals in your work, but scientists treat their animals with a lot of respect, and have to treat them humanely. If you don’t do this then your work will be stopped.

      My work doesn’t really harm the environment but I do use some chemicals that could damage the environment if they were not disposed of correctly. We have to get special ways of disposing our waste so that it does not damage the environment.

    • Photo: Michelle Taylor

      Michelle Taylor answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Most of the time I am interested in the animals natural behaviour so I am very careful not to harm the animal. Sometimes though when I need to look at the chromosomes or genes in my fruitflies I have to kill them by popping them into alcohol. This doesn’t hurt them but sends them to sleep pretty quickly.

    • Photo: Emmanuel Amabebe

      Emmanuel Amabebe answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Nice question. My work does not harm any animal nor the environment. I work with pregnant women from whom I get my samples after which they are stored in my lab.

    • Photo: Emmanuel Amabebe

      Emmanuel Amabebe answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Nice question. My work does not harm any animal nor the environment. I work with pregnant women from whom I get my samples after which they are stored in my lab. In situations where we need to dispose any waste, we follow the stipulated guidelines for waste management strictly. By this we keep the environment clean and safe.

    • Photo: Alberto Lapedriza

      Alberto Lapedriza answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Zebrafish is a protected animal under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which regulates the use of laboratory animals in the UK. Therefore, to work with them we need a licence from the Home Office that specifies the experiments we can and cannot do with the zebrafish in the lab.

      For my research I’m working with zebrafish embryos, and I only use the adults to produce embryos. Therefore, the adults don’t suffer any harm at all, as the only thing we do with them is putting males and females together to lay embryos.

      We do all the experiments with the embryos following the Home Office guidance and rules to minimise the harm we do to them. Unfortunately we cannot avoid all harm, but we work very carefully to avoid harming them unnecessarily.

      My work doesn’t damage the environment at all. I don’t work with toxic substances or using dangerous techniques.

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