Legal Frameworks and Controls for the Protection of Research Animals: A Focus on the Animal Welfare Body with a French Case Study

摘要

Worldwide, the conditions governing the use of laboratory animals are based on culture and traditions. Applications of the principle of the three Rs—replacement, reduction, and refinement—aim to foster humane and responsible science and minimize animal harm. In this paper, the European system regulating laboratory animal welfare is examined since it is one of the strictest such systems in the world. Growing public concern over the use of animals for research animal use and the importance of high research animal welfare to the outcomes of studies have pushed institutions to strengthen their protocols for research activities involving animals. The animal welfare body (AWB) is a type of regulatory structure responsible for protecting animal well-being in each stage of experimental research programs. It is a local structure that fulfills oversight and advisory functions on animal housing conditions and care and research procedures involving animals while providing support for the implementation of legal requirements. Since this structure is an innovation and examples of its functioning are scarce, a French case study is described here. Information on AWB members’ functions, tasks and goals is discussed by examining the body’s activity in a French research institute. The purpose of this work is to add knowledge in this field and share information on the scientific community’s commitment to welfare progress for laboratory animals.