Laboratory animals are often used for toxicological experiments for safety, expense and ethical reasons. Experiments where the health endpoint is cancer are referred to as cancer bioassays. Otherwise, the experiments are referred to as non-cancer risk assessment.
Experiments with laboratory animals can provide scientists with valuable information and insight into how an agent may affect humans. However, while there are good reasons to study toxicology with laboratory animal experiments, it is important to keep in mind that “mice are not little people.” There is no scientific basis for simply projecting or extrapolating the results of any and every laboratory animal experiment onto humans.
Do you want to evaluate a:
- How to evaluate a cancer bioassay; or a
- How to evaluate a non-cancer risk assessment?
=== Additional Resources ===
- [http://www.acsh.org/docLib/20040329_mice.pdf Of Mice and Mandates: Animal Experiments, Human Cancer Risk, and Regulatory Policies], American Council on Science and Health, July 1997.