Dutch ban on animal experiments

5. The 3Rs strategy points the way

The call for a ban on animal experiments is not new. Even in the peak phase of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, petitions were filed with the European Commission in March and April 2020 for a complete ban on animal experiments. One of the arguments put forward by the petitioners to justify this move was that the Netherlands already had a timetable for the abolition of animal experiments. But what the research community had already suspected in the formulation of the exit plan was later confirmed politically: there is no longer any concrete plan in the Netherlands today for abolishing animal experiments. As shown for example by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, animal experiments are essential for research into life-saving therapies or vaccines. And in regulatory safety testing, too, it is only possible to manage without animal experiments if validated, internationally recognized alternatives are available. There can be no binding exit plan for abandoning animal experiments in the foreseeable future, and this is due to the lack of alternatives – not to the lack of will on the part of the research community. In conclusion, it has to be said that the systematic promotion and implementation of the 3Rs principles – Reduce, Replace, Refine – is the effective way to improve the quality of research and the welfare of the animals used.