Refinement of Experimental Procedures

Certain types of experiments using intact animals inevitably cause some suffering, ranging from psychological stress to physical pain or discomfort. The aim of refinement is to reduce such suffering to an absolute minimum, and if possible to eliminate it altogether. Ways of reducing environmental and handling stress, the use of anaesthesia and analgesia, the minimisation of aversive stimuli, the modification of severe endpoints, the limitation of survival times for animals with induced abnormalities, and the prediction of distress are discussed. It is essential that researchers recognise their animals as sensitive individuals, and that avoidance of animal suffering be regarded as a high research priority.