Ethics of Research involving animals
Making progress – some national and international activities
11.31 Over the past decades, a number of organisations have been established which seek to coordinate efforts in relation to the promotion of Replacements. We briefly summarise them below.
Coordination of effort
11.32 The ECVAM was established by the European Commission in 1993, for the express purpose of undertaking research into alternative methods and facilitating and organising their validation (see Box 2.4). ECVAM now works with its US counterpart, the Interagency Co-ordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). These organisations have been concerned primarily with validating Replacements in regulatory safety testing. In this regard, ECVAM has been working with the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines20 on the development of alternative methods for testing vaccines, and with the Test Guidelines Programme of the OECD for chemicals. The OECD has recently admitted observers from animal protection organisations to its meetings on test methods for chemicals testing via the International Council on Animal Protection in OECD Programmes (ICAPO).
11.33 A number of European countries have national organisations, or platforms, that are coordinated by ECOPA, the European Consensus Platform and which seek to promote the application of alternatives. Some of the member organisations, such as The Netherlands’ Centre for Alternatives, are well-established institutions involving government, academia, industry and animal-welfare organisations in a variety of activities including commissioning research and providing information on alternative methods. In ECOPA, the UK is represented by the Boyd Group which, although it has members from the four main sectors mentioned above, is not primarily a centre for alternatives. The UK has recently established a centre dedicated specifically to the Three Rs (see Box 11.3).
| Box 11.3: UK National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) In July 2002 a House of Lords Select Committee published a Report on Animals in Scientific Procedures which recommended, among other things, the establishment of a national centre for the Three Rs. This was envisaged as a small, administrative hub to coordinate research units embedded in existing centres of scientific excellence. Several stakeholders commented on the recommendation, including the Dr Hadwen Trust and the Lord Dowding Fund, who published a joint proposal, suggesting that the national centre should focus on Replacements only.* In April 2004, the UK Government announced the establishment of the UK National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).† The Centre aims to provide a focus for the promotion, development and implementation of the Three Rs in animal research. It replaces and builds upon the Medical Research Council's Centre for Best Practice for Animals in Research (CBPAR). The NC3Rs will fund Three R-related research, develop a range of information resources and guidelines, and organise workshops and symposia to disseminate and advance information about the Three Rs. The Centre’s ultimate aim is the Replacement of animals in research, but it recognises that as long as animals continue to be used in research it is essential that every effort is made to reduce numbers of animals used, and to refine as far as possible the procedures in which they are involved. * Dr Hadwen Trust and Lord Dowding Fund (2002) A national centre for the replacement of animals in experiments. A proposal by Lord Dowding Fund and Dr Hadwen Trust, see http://www.navs.org.uk/download_files/news/NationalCentr eProposal.pdf. † 10 Downing Street (2004) Welfare drive for animal experiments 21 May. Press release available at: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page5851.asp. Accessed on: 16 Jun 2004. See also: http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/. Accessed on 21 April 2005. |
Information on Replacements, education and training
11.34 Many organisations provide information on Replacement methods in research and education. For example, ECVAM provides an online database, the ECVAM Scientific Information System (SIS), which provides details of methods currently undergoing validation21 and, in Germany, the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) Center for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments (ZEBET) gives access to a database called Animalt-Zebet, which has extensive information on Replacements.22 A bibliographic database (Altbib) is maintained by the US National Library of Medicine.23
11.35 The provision of information in tertiary and postgraduate education has long been promoted by the RSPCA and is now being pursued in conjunction with the Boyd Group. Interniche has produced a comprehensive guidebook to educational alternatives24 and there are web-based information services, such as the European Union Resource Centre for Alternatives in Higher Education (EURCA)25 and the Norwegian Reference Centre for Laboratory Animal Science and Alternatives (NORINA).26
Footnotes20 This organisation is part of the European Pharmacopoeia, operated by the Council of Europe.