Animal models can assist medicine in humans

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7351.1457

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Alastair R Michell (bobmichell@hotmail.com), professor of comparative medicine

University of London, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, Department of Pharmacology, London EC1M 6BQ

EDITOR—The debate about whether we can learn from animals is far more subtle than the rapid responses to Roberts et al's systematic review of fluid resuscitation after haemorrhage suggest. 1 2 It depends on the problem and on the species of the animal; the lessons of comparative medicine are most useful when the model has sufficient similarities to suggest its relevance and enough differences to make it informative. Blanket assertions that we cannot learn from animals are naive, …