Advancing refinement of laboratory animal use

By Smaje, L.H. - Smith, J.A. - Combes, R.D. - Ewbank, R. - Gregory, J.A. - Jennings, M. - Moore, G.J. - Morton, D.B.

Whatever view is taken of the morality of using animals in scientific research and safety testing, it can generally be agreed that so long as such use continues, every effort should be made to keep animal suffering to a minimum. This is the thinking behind the 'Three Rs' of refinement, reduction and replacement of laboratory animal use. This paper concerns refinement. We recognize that the Three Rs are taken very seriously in many countries of the world [see for example a recent editorial in the journal Science (Goldberg et al. 1996)] and, although we have written this paper from our own perspective in the UK, its principles are generally applicable.