By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
This is the Year of the Rat according to the Chinese zodiac. The family of rodents, which include rats and mice, are usually associated with negative images. To some people, they are just loathsome creatures that spread diseases and damage crops. But that's just one side of the story.
On top of being lovely pets for o some kids, rodents are essential for researchers searching for cures for human diseases in laboratories. Mice make huge sacrifices for the sake of people, researchers say.
``They are adorable creatures. Without them, it's almost impossible to do the necessary research on diseases,'' said Lee Chul-ho, a principle researcher at the Disease Model Research Center of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology.
Mice are the most common animals used in research with hundreds of established inbred, normal bred and transgenic strains.
They are used in various experiments in biology and psychology primarily because they are mammals and share a high degree of homology with humans. The mouse genome has been sequenced and virtually all mouse genes have human homologs.
The number of lab mice on the local market was 700,000 in 2000 but expanded to 3.5 million last year due to the increasing interest in bioengineering technology.
The types of rodents are diverse ― from the tiny mouse to hand-sized rats ― with prices ranging from 10,000 won to 600,000 won. In 2006, a mouse genetically engineered at a local lab was sold to an international pharmaceutical company for 64 million won.
The average mouse in the wild lives only for about five months, primarily due to heavy predation. Lab mice tend to only live for a couple of months as they are born with critical diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
Many animal lovers and NGOs are protesting the treatment of these animals.
With the new Animal Protection Law kicking in on Jan. 27, all animals used in labs will have to be regulated by an independent council. It will decide the appropriateness of experiments at the lab after taking necessary ethical elements into consideration.
``We will also consider measures on how to minimize the pain of lab animals when they are unavoidably killed in an experiment,'' Lee said.
Mice are generally very docile if raised from birth and given sufficient human contact.
Korea and most other Asian nations adopt the Chinese zodiac _ a 12-year cycle used for dating the years, with each year of the zodiac corresponding with an animal. The year 2008 is the Year of the Rat.
People born in the Year of the Rat are considered industrious, disciplined and shrewd, but can be over-ambitious and selfish at times.