However, I would like to dispel the notion that scientists that work with animals don't feel compassion for the animals.

I am really glad I work with in vitro methods, but we do have cooperations with other labs to do studies with animals if needed. I was at a meeting of such a project recently, and I can really agree with you here. It was all about maximizing the outake and minimizing the animal numbers. Also, people should know that we need ethic approvals from a government agency for each animal we use (at least here in Austria), so we can't just use them if there'd be another way to get the results.

The first step to accomplishing this are the three Rs of animal research: Replace, Reduce, and Refine.

My boss wants me to establish PBK models, have you ever heard of them? They are supposed to reduce the dependancy of animals in toxicologic/toxicokinetic studies - the aim is to simulate the distribution and metabolism of toxins in the human body based on in vitro data. Very interesting stuff.

Nice post (&nice blog), you gained a new follower!^^