Chapter 11 
Economic Considerations 
Economic considerations play an important role 
in decisions on the use of animals in research, test- 
ing, and, to a lesser extent, education. It is demon- 
strable that many valuable techniques, pharma- 
ceuticals, pesticides, and other products have 
been developed or tested using animals. Yet ani- 
mal use is often very expensive and time-consum- 
ing. A new pesticide, for example, may require 
$5 million worth of testing with animals before 
it can be registered. Even higher animal costs may 
be incurred in developing a new drug. Large in- 
centives thus exist to find alternatives that reduce 
the cost and time involved in animal research and 
testing while maintaining the ability to improve 
human health, assess and manage the risks of 
toxic substances, and acquire fundamental new 
biomedical knowledge. Considerable investments 
are required to develop and validate such alter- 
natives before they can be implemented with con- 
fidence. 
This chapter examines costs and benefits sur- 
rounding animal use and the development, vali- 
HOW MUCH DOES 
In either research or testing, the principal cost 
associated with animal use is that of human la- 
bor. Animals must be fed, watered, and have their 
cages cleaned. They require attendant veterinary 
care and are housed in facilities needing labor- 
intensive sanitation. Such labor costs are the ma- 
jor component of both the expense of producing 
animals in breeding facilities and the cost of main- 
taining them in laboratory facilities prior to and 
during research and testing. 
The total cost of animal use is the sum of the 
cost of acquisition of the animals and that of main- 
taining the animals prior to and during their use. 
Acquisition expenses vary widely among species. 
Mice, for example, cost on average about $2 
apiece, hamsters about $5, and guinea pigs about 
$19. Dogs range in price from $5 for a pound ani- 
mal to several hundred dollars for a purpose-bred 
animal. Primates can cost from $400 to more than 
dation, and implementation of alternatives in 
research and testing. Data are provided for bio- 
medical research as it relates to human health and 
disease, but a precise determination of costs and 
economic benefits of animal use within biomedi- 
cal research is elusive. Several aspects of using 
animals in toxicological testing are examined, 
including the development of pesticides, the eco- 
nomic incentives to develop and validate nonanimal 
tests, and the extent of liability a manufacturer 
might incur for insufficient product testing. 
In education, it is hard to put a price tag on the 
use of animals. At the college and graduate levels, 
benefits of animal use include the training of bi- 
ologists, psychologists, toxicologists, physicians, 
and veterinarians. Education involving animals 
contributes indirectly to research and testing by 
training those who eventually carry out this work. 
The benefits of using animals in primary and sec- 
ondary education include increasing students’ fa- 
miliarity with animal behavior and care (see ch. 9). 
ANIMAL USE COST? 
$2,000. The actual cost for a particular species 
varies with the sex, strain, weight, age, quantity 
ordered, method of shipping, and distance shipped. 
Maintenance costs also vary. Maintaining a 
mouse, for example, costs about 5 cents per day, 
a hamster about 11 cents per day, and a guinea 
pig about 40 cents per day. The actual cost varies 
among different laboratory facilities, depending, 
for example, on accounting practices and local la- 
bor costs. The total maintenance cost of an animal 
is directly related to its length of stay in the lab- 
oratory. It is important to note that maintenance 
expenses can quickly exceed and even dwarf ac- 
quisition costs. A 2-month -old hamster costing $5, 
for example, used in research until the age of 10 
months costs $26 to maintain. 
Figure 11-1 illustrates the relation between the 
number of animals used in research and testing 
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