Refinement of animals use, Reduction of animal use, and Alternatives to animal use

The NSW Animal Research legislation encapsulates the principles of alternatives to the use of animals for research and teaching purposes, ie. the replacement of animals with other methods, the reduction in the number of animals used, and the refinement of techniques used to reduce the impact on animals. Researchers and teachers must consider these principles during the design and conduct of their projects. Links on this page provide sources of information for alternatives to animal use.

• NC3Rs  National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (UK). Provides a focus for the promotion, development and implementation of the 3Rs in animal research and testing.
• Refinement
  • Pain and distress
  • Adverse events or unexpected effects during the conduct of a project
• Reduction - ACEC guidelines
• Replacement
  • Alternatives in teaching (NORINA database)
    
• Links for alternative databases and search engines(each link opens a new browser window), with acknowledgement to the University of Virginia Animal Care and Use Committee:
  
  AGRICOLA
  ALTWEB  (Alternatives to Animal Testing on the Web)
  ANIMAL ETHICS INFOLINK (NSW Department of Primary Industries and Animal Research Review Panel)
  AWI (Animal Welfare Institute)
  AWIC (Animal Welfare Information Center)
  BIOSIS
  CAAT (The JohnsHopkinsCenterfor Alternative to Animal Testing)
  CRIS (Current Research Information Service)
  ECVAM (European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods)
  FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Education)
  ICCVAM (Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods)MEDLINE (PubMed, Grateful Med, NLM)
  MGI (Mouse Genome Informatics)
  NCA (NetherlandsCentre Alternatives to Animal Use)
  NORINA (Alternatives in education search engine)
  PRIMATELIT (A bibliographic database for primatology)
  PSYCHINFO
  SCAW (Scientists Center for Animal Welfare)
  TOXNET
  UCCAA (University of CaliforniaCenterfor Animal Alternatives) 
  WEB OF SCIENCE 
  
  
  • Alternatives to specific procedures
    Toxicology - INVITTOX Data Bank of In Vitro techniques in toxicology Antibody production - alternatives and refinements