Animal testing was vital for battling disease, according to Bermudian veterinarian and research biologist Dr. Derek Norford.

Dr. Norford said such experimentation had been responsible for the polio vaccine, among other medical breakthroughs.

And he also pointed to the fight against the global killer AIDS.

"It's destroying whole human populations. We have to cure it. We have to use animals to do so."

Dr. Norford's comments came during a lecture at Bermuda College on Tuesday night.

He returned home from his position as a researcher at North Carolina University for the Corange Science Week. Corange Limited, a pharmaceutical company, sponsors the science department at the Bermuda College.

Dr. Norford explained what biomedical research is and what it is used for, saying it existed at three different levels: basic, applied and clinical.

At the basic level scientists study how bodies work and the diseases which affect them. The applied level comes in when they take information from the basic level and apply it to the development of drugs, treatments and surgical procedures.

Research becomes clinical when studies are held to test these new treatments in hospitals.

Animals are used in this research to protect both human and animal health, Dr. Norford said. Using animals allowed for safer testing, he said, as well as more controlled experiments. There was also no substitute for a living system, as compared to computer models, he said.

The shorter life span of animals allows for research over shorter periods and certain animals can be used for particular diseases (for instance, gerbils are very susceptible to epilepsy).

Dr. Norford also showed a breakdown of what types of animals are used in animal testing. 95 percent of all animal testing is done on rats and mice bred for that purpose, he said.

Rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters made up less than 3.3 percent, while cats and dogs each made up less than 0.5 percent. Non-human primates also made up less than 0.5 percent.

As non-human primates are the closest to humans, their use in animal testing is not only the most controversial, it is perhaps the most useful.

Dr. Norford also discussed vivisection, the experimentation of drugs on live animals and the collecting of animal body parts or organs for research.

He then explained cell culture, or the growing of cells in a test tube for research. For instance, he showed how extracted cells from the marijuana plant can be used to research pain relievers.

Legally, he said, animal testing is sanctioned in the US. However there are rules and regulations in place to ensure researchers use the animals fairly, keeping their welfare in mind.