Implementing the 3Rs

Replacement - methods which avoid or replace the use of animals.

Reduction - minimising the numbers of animals used - for example by improving the experimental design and statistical analysis used in a study.

Refinement - improving experimental procedures, and other factors affecting animals such as their housing and care, to reduce suffering and improve welfare throughout the animals’ lives.

Our work

Promoting the implementation of all 3Rs and developing practical ideas and recommendations for how this can be done is an integral part of the work of the research animals department.

This section of the site shows examples of our recent and ongoing work on the 3Rs (see the pages in the left hand menu).

Providing information on these issues to countries in Eastern Europe and Asia is also part of our work.

Other key input

The research animals department scrutinises existing EU and UK legislation, and all proposals for new or revised laws which involve animal testing. We challenge the need for animal testing in these laws, and campaign for the greatest possible aviodance of animal testing and the use of alternative methods in testing requirements (for example, see: REACH - the new EU chemicals law (2007) (PDF 51.4KB))

We also work to ensure that implementation of the 3Rs is a guiding principle in laws controlling the use of animals in science (see: Revision of EU lab animal laws).

We are represented (through Eurogroup for Animals) on the International Council of Animal Protection in OECD Programmes (ICAPO), which seeks to ensure that animals are replaced wherever possible in test guidelines set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The research animals department is also represented (through Eurogroup for Animals) on the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) and the scientific advisory committee of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).

In the UK, we sit on the Regulatory Toxicology Forum of the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) that promotes the 3Rs within the chemicals industry.

In addition, the research animals department is developing education resources to help scientists to consider, develop and use replacement alternatives. The fundamental aim is to encourage the replacement and avoidance of animal experiments in all fields of research.