Since Dr. Emil von Behring received the Nobel Prize in 1901 for his finding antiserum for diphtheria, tested on guinea pigs, 144 of the 189 Nobel Prize winners in medicine, 76%, received the award thanks to animal research. Decisive medical breakthroughs for mankind (vaccines, analgesics, transfusions, anesthetics or transplants) have been made after animal testing.

The thesis of Enrique Sueiro, director of Communication of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, gathers these data . The author illustrates this evolution with cases such as finding of the hormone insulin, in 1921, following research on the dog pancreas: "That finding won the Nobel Prize for Frederick G. Banting and John Macleod and, more importantly, today allows thousands of people to live with diabetes instead of dying of diabetes".

The thesis , entitled Comunicación biomédica en la research con animales and directed by Full Professor Alfonso Nieto, is one of the first programs of study in Spanish on this topic of social controversy. Enrique Sueiro analyzes the positions of supporters and opponents of scientific experimentation with animals. To do so, he brings together the points of view of the majority of scientists, who claim the need for animal experimentation, and authors such as Peter Singer or movements such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who oppose it.

In this sense, Enrique Sueiro denounces "aberrations committed against animals under the cover of the scientific research ". The thesis includes past cases of researchers whose "methods to induce psychopathologies in young monkeys revealed an experimental cruelty unworthy of the human condition". As he explains, the current ethical-legal framework , based on social awareness, excludes and punishes all subject of cruelty to experimental animals. "Citizens need information and context to understand the multifaceted world of scientific research . It seems reasonable to find a middle ground between reactions that give priority to the emotional and arguments that omit the affective. Managing public perceptions wisely and honestly facilitates the harmony of data and emotions. We can reconcile respect for animals and dignity for people".

3R: reduce, replace and refine

In his opinion, a balanced approach is what is known in the biomedical field as the 3R Rule: reduce the issue of animals to the minimum necessary, replace them whenever possible with other reliable methods of verification, and refine the attention and the conditions of the animals on laboratory. In terms of figures, it is estimated that 50 million issue animals are used for research per year worldwide. In the case of Spain, the overall figure amounted to 595,597 animals in 2005.

The thesis , defended in the Communication School , details the legal control of animal research in the United Kingdom, the country with the strictest legislation. It also analyzes British statistics, which show a decrease in the number of animals used for scientific purposes, from 5.5 million in the 1970s to 3 million in 2006, issue . By type, they are broken down into rats, mice and other rodents (83%), fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds (14%), rabbits and other small mammals (0.7%), sheep, cows, pigs and other large mammals (1.9%), dogs and cats (0.3%) and monkeys (0.1%). Enrique Sueiro stresses that "countries with little legal control and less information transparency are susceptible to greater abuses against animals".

For 5 years, the researcher of biomedical communication of the University of Navarra has made stays and visited some twenty institutions such as the National Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Medical Society, in the USA; or the Institute of Neurology of University College London and the Research Defence Society, in the United Kingdom. He has also met with specialized journalists from media outlets such as The New York Times.