EC publishes summary report on the use of animals for scientific purposes in 2019

The aim of the document is to collect Member States’ 2019 statistical data regarding the numbers of animals used for purposes of research, testing, routine production and education (including training). Each Member State was also requested to provide a narrative for their data, including, inter alia, information on its efforts to promote the principle of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (“3R principle”)
In this regard, it should be noted that Latvia was the only country that explicitly mentioned in silico methods among the testing processes applied to detect most effective samples before animal testing and reduce the total amount of animals in procedures.

Key highlights

• Most of countries claimed to be committed to ensuring that the 3R principle is observed.
• Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden are actively promoting specific 3R research projects including the development of alternative methods to animal testing. It is worth mentioning in this respect the French national platform for the development of alternative methods, FRANCOPA, and the German Foundation for the promotion of alternate and complementary methods to reduce animal testing (Stiftung zur Förderung von Ersatz- und Ergänzungsmethoden zur Einschränkung von Tierversuchen)
• The data showed in this document confirms that in silico represents a valuable complementary method to reduce animal testing.