Kolar R . Animal Experimentation. Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 12, Issue 1, 2006


Abstract

Millions of animals are used every year in oftentimes extremely painful
and distressing scientific procedures. Legislation of animal experimentation in modern
societies is based on the supposition that this is ethically acceptable when certain more
or less defined formal (e.g. logistical, technical) demands and ethical principles are
met. The main parameters in this context correspond to the “3Rs” concept as defined
by Russel and Burch in 1959, i.e. that all efforts to replace, reduce and refine
experiments must be undertaken.The licensing of animal experiments normally requires an ethical evaluation
process, oftentimes undertaken by ethics committees. The serious problems in putting
this idea into practice include inter alia unclear conditions and standards for ethical
decisions, insufficient management of experiments undertaken for specific (e.g.
regulatory) purposes, and conflicts of interest of ethics committees’ members.
There is an ongoing societal debate about ethical issues of animal use in science.
Existing EU legislation on animal experimentation for cosmetics testing is an example
of both the public will for setting clear limits to animal experiments and the need to
further critically examine other fields and aspects of animal experimentation.



Author's keywords: animal experimentation, animal welfare, 3Rs, ethics committees