In the news
11 Mar 2010
6 November 2009
The 3Rs call on science
After 50 years of the 3Rs, replacement research lacks the strategic punch needed to progressively decrease the number of animals used, says Dr Gemma Buckland from the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research in the latest issue of Laboratory News.
The year 2009 has marked the 50th anniversary of the birth of the 3Rs concept – the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal experiments. Despite some progress, notably in safety testing, replacement research is still lacking the strategic commitment needed from scientists and politicians to progressively decrease the number of animals used.
At the 7th World Congress (WC7) on alternatives in Rome this year it was encouraging to see the first ever platform for replacement science in medical research but the congress was still heavily overshadowed by alternatives in toxicology research. With 33% of animal experiments in the EU performed for basic biological research as opposed to 8% for safety testing, medical research is still not receiving proportional representation of time and funding in the development of replacement alternatives. We urgently need to redress the balance.
Experts from around the world who convened in Rome agreed that the current challenge in alternatives is to devise a global vision and strategy to revolutionise alternatives research. A pledge from all relevant stakeholders to focus on replacement research would produce compelling returns – better quality and relevance in medical research, economic and time benefits in the laboratory with high-throughput research methods, a humane science that avoids animal suffering whilst reflecting the views of citizens and keeping European science competitive at the cutting-edge of biomedical technology development.
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