PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF ANIMALS IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH IN GEORGIA.

In different societies there are different opinions about moral and ethical aspects of animal testing in biomedical research. Many studies have been conducted worldwide since 1980s to evaluate public perception and attitude towards the animal research. In EU Eastern Neighboring Countries, including Georgia, ethical aspects of animal usage for biomedical experiments have not been well emphasized. There are no ethical-legal regulations on animal use for biomedical research in Georgia neither on national nor on institutional level. At the same time, public attitude concerning the animal testing for scientific research is unclear. The aim of the study has been to explore public attitudes towards the animal research for the first time in Georgia. In this survey quantitative and qualitative research methods had been used. A special questionnaire was developed and an individual interview method was utilized. Totally 750 interviews were conducted and 715 questionnaires were used for analysis. Codified questionnaires were included in the database and then analyzed with SPSS 27 software. The technique of cross-tabulation was used for the bivariate analysis. For most respondents (68.0%) animal use in Biomedical research is acceptable. 82,0% of respondents fully or partly agreed with the concept, that involvement of animals in experiments which comply to the principles of international norms and regulations (reduction of the number of animals, improving the experiment/lowering pain for animals, and using alternative methods) is acceptable. The results of the study have demonstrated that the attitude of the study sample towards the animal testing in biomedical research is influenced by age (Pearson Chi-Square=32.479, df=8, p<0.05; p=0.000), education (Pearson Chi-Square=27.850 df=12, p<0.05; p=0.006) and occupation (Pearson Chi-Square = 37.767 df=16, p<0.05; p=0.002). Gender, place of residence and experience with owning the pet/animal doesn't have statistically significant influence on the public attitude.  The results of our study highlight that animal testing in biomedical research is acceptable for the respondents involved in the study. However, most of the respondent's consider use of International regulations highly important.