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Looks like the party started without me!

Thank you all so much for your discussion. I know this topic could have been especially difficult, given its proximity to our own activities during our final year here. Just some more questions I would like to run past you --

-Do we want more legislation for animal testing? Should the government exert more control over what studies are performed and how they are done? Do we want the government interjecting itself into science?

-Given your research project, have you honestly as a researcher considered an alternate model? Check out Altweb (http://altweb.jhsph.edu/) a "clearing house for information on alternatives to animal research" run by Johns Hopkins. Is there a model detailed there you could use? Why or why not? (Or did you just find something really cool?)

-The Thalidomide disaster does bring to bear an interesting point - the animals in that test did not do all the things the humans  taking the drug did (ie, reproduce). In this instance, arranging a test of tetragenicity would have been appropriate, but there are somethings humans do that animals don't (like self-administer psychedelics). What are some other things that animals don't do (or do) which humans do, and do they have any bearing on biomedical or behavioral research?

-Particularly to those of you who do animal research, how much do you know about the animal you use? Did you think about the limits of your model before this conversation? What conclusions did you come to?

Again, thank you all for participating, and I look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday!