Laboratory animals

To minimise the risks of human testing, it is sometimes necessary, for example to test a new treatment or drug on laboratory animals first. The knowledge gained from laboratory animal research contributes to the development of new methods for diagnosis and prevention and to the development of new treatments and vaccines. Testing on animals is avoided as much as possible. It only happens if there are no scientifically equivalent alternatives. The use of animal experiments for scientific research is always supervised by a veterinarian, an ethics committee and an animal welfare cell. In order to ensure the welfare of the animals, laboratory animal studies must meet strict requirements. 

Any laboratory that performs animal testing on vertebrates that may be associated with pain or discomfort must be recognized by the government and establish an ethical committee. The principles of the 3 Rs (Replacement, Refinement and Reduction) should be taken into account when performing animal testing, meaning you should try to limit the amount of animals used, look for alternatives to animal testing where you can, and keep improving the methods used. An ethical approval is necessary each time you work with laboratory animals (perform experiments on them, use them for organ collecting or breed animals with a painful phenotype). 

An Ethics Committee for Animal Testing (ECD) aims to: 

• evaluate the planned and performed animal experiments.  
• establish criteria for the ethical use of laboratory animals. 
• provide advice to laboratories on the ethical aspects of animal testing as well as to the supervisory authority. 

Many research institutions actively focus on and promote the use of Non-Animal Methods (NAM’s) to reduce the use of laboratory animals. In Belgium, an online database for research on these NAM’s was created to increase attention and visibility for these methods: https://www.re-place.be/.