Inside Animal Testing Labs With Larry Carbone

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Breakthrough treatments for high blood pressure, HIV infection and obesity: they’re all available in part because of studies done on animals. And though the Animal Welfare Act has for many years regulated the treatment of lab animals, more than 95% of those used in research today are excluded from its protections. Larry Carbone is a veterinarian who’s spent decades caring for animals in research facilities. We talk to him about the value and ethics of animal research and what he thinks needs to change. His new book is “The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals.” Guests: Larry Carbone, laboratory veterinarian; author, "The Hidden Lives of Lab Animals: A Vet's Vision for a More Humane Future" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from Landmark College, offering summer programs for high schoolers that support executive function and transition to college skills.
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0:33.3	From KQED.
0:36.9	This is Forum. I'm Scott Schaefer in this hour for Mina Kim.
0:41.0	Well, each year tens or even hundreds of thousands of animals,
0:44.8	from dogs and cats to mice, rabbits, and monkeys,
0:48.1	are used in research by scientists looking for cures,
0:51.3	treatments, and vaccines of all kinds of diseases and ailments.
0:55.2	Our guest, Larry Carbona, spent decades working as a veterinarian in animal labs,
1:00.4	including the last 26 years at UCSF,
1:03.4	and his new book tries to find a balance that respects the scientists
1:07.0	whose work can lead to discoveries that help millions of Americans and human beings,
1:11.9	I should say, while also caring about the lab animals, many of which will suffer no matter
1:16.5	how ethically they're treated. His new book out this week is titled The Hidden Lives of Lab
1:21.9	Animals, A Vets Vision for a More Humane Future. Larry Carbone, welcome to Forum.
1:28.4	Thank. Thanks very much, Scott. Thanks for having me. Well, let me begin by asking you this.
1:33.6	You know, as you know, better than most, the treatment of animals in labs can be a very hot
1:40.0	button topic there, and there are people on all sides who have very strong feelings about the
1:44.9	research, how the animals are protected from undue suffering and so on. So let me just start
	...

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