>From:    Paul Sand <[log in to unmask]>

>Maybe a little offtopic:
>Just read today of another medical research using rats and made me think why
>people in laboratories use rats?
>Are their metabolism closest to humans (I suppose not) or they are just easy
>to handle.

Three reasons I can think of are:
1. Relatively short lifespan allowing many generations to be followed in a
short period of time
2. Cheap to purchase compared to larger mammals
3. Protocols for handling them are far less stringent than some of the
mammals such as monkeys which resemble humans more closely

Binnie