Well, yes. International cooperation is climbing steadily up the agenda as scientists and policymakers from Europe, the US, China, Brazil and elsewhere share their views on how to support medical progress while making meaningful strides forward towards the 3Rs – reduction, refinement and replacement.

It makes perfect sense, regardless of your view of animal research. Collaboration is at the core of science; it’s where some of the best ideas come from. So if we are serious about finding therapies for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease we should encourage international cooperation.

And if we want to see the highest standards of animal welfare and the sharing of best practices – not to mention the adoption of viable non-animal testing methods by regulators – then a global approach is needed.

Fostering cooperation

That’s why it was encouraging to see experts and regulators from the US and China joining their EU counterparts for a conference in Brussels this month. The 8^th annual EPAA conference in Brussels took international cooperation as its theme and looked beyond Europe rather than focusing within. 

The Platform signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based Institute for In Vitro Sciences dedicated to international dissemination of alternative techniques for safety evaluation, and the EPAA will provide up to €100,000 in sponsorship over two years to the IIVS to support training in several regions including China and Brazil.

Why should Europe care?

In this age of austerity, you might ask why Europe would want to help an American company to train scientists and regulators in China. Fair question! The answer is partly that better global standards will be good for medical research, good for animal welfare and good for us.

But the full answer is also that Europe should encourage standards in medical research to rise in tandem across the globe. Not only does this help to discourage migration of research to areas with weak regulation, it also incentivises European industry to invest in non-animal methods – if companies are confident that these models will be acceptable to authorities around the world they are more likely to take the risk of developing them.  

Here at Animal Testing Perspectives we have been asking you about the future of research in Europe, pointing to some of the discouraging signs which suggest medical research was unwelcome here.

But at the EPAA conference it was tempting, at least for a moment, to imagine a future where Europe not only sets the standard for animal and non-animal testing but also brings others with it in a way that preserves its global competitiveness.

Are we being too optimistic? Let us know…

The public is uneasy about animal testing yet research advocates shun the spotlight

Animal research has been back in the news again as controversy rages over major European laws which have been recently revamped by Brussels.

New EU rules on the use of animals in medical research are also due to be introduced across Europe in 2013 but anti-vivisectionist campaigners say the revised law was watered down by MEPs who were lobbied by pharma companies. For example, a clause that would have completely banned the use of primates was amended after industry and research organisations argued that this could jeopardise essential research into Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases

Critics claim that EU research agenda is driven by commercial interests and point to the composition of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) as a prime example. However in fairness the EPAA was set up to be a public-private partnership between the European Commission and industry to work together to find alternatives.

‘Tell me if this hurts’

The updated EU legislation on medical research classifies pain as “mild”, “moderate” and “severe” – a deeply subjective judgement made without the facility of asking the subject. How can anyone truly know the pain of another?

This definition matters. The decision to reuse an animal which has already been subjected to tests depends on whether scientists perceive that the animal in question has already endured “moderate to severe” distress.

The leeway given to researchers is, according to the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAA), a compromise won by vested interests. The group says that even some of the tougher aspects of EU laws will count for little unless enforcement is improved at national level.

On top of that, they say academic and industry researchers have shared very little information with the public about how and why animals are used in research. Ironically, those claiming to stand for science are accused of stifling scientific debate.

The ‘3 Rs’

There was a time when animal research was barely questioned. There were no ethics committees, no legislation and no animal rights activists. But those days are long gone.

Today, several stakeholders subscribe to the notion that the use of animals should be reduced; that animal-based research should be replaced with alternative methods where possible; and that experiments should be refined to minimise harm.

These “3 Rs” have been a guiding principle for half a century, yet there are now more animals used in research than there were then.

The trouble is the degree to which stakeholders think each principle should apply: anti-vivisectionists would like animal testing “replaced”, while researchers have found it easier to “refine” their experiments that to phase out animal testing altogether.

In addition to research designed to understand the body or to develop new medicines, animals are used as a routine part of vaccination production to test the consistency of one batch of vaccine to the next.

The Eurogroup for Animals says around 12 million animals are used for research and testing every year in Europe. It believes there is enormous scope for “replacing or refining” many of these practices and, in some cases, discontinuing them altogether.

Public perceptions

Whatever about industry groups and activists, what does the rest of the public think?

A Eurobarometer opinion poll shows the public is divided on the use of animals in experiments – even if researchers claim their work will lead to benefits for human health. This is particularly stark when people are asked whether scientists should be allowed to experiment on larger animals like dogs and monkeys for the improvement of human health.

Only 44% of respondents agree while 37% disagree. In some countries, such as Finland, Slovenia, Luxembourg and France more than half of those surveyed opposed such experiments, according to the ECEAE.

Worth the ‘sacrifice’

Animal rights groups argue that despite the millions of animals killed in the name of, for example, cancer research, medical progress has been too slow to justify the suffering.

Most experiments will not lead to medical breakthroughs and are conducted to test how animals respond to drugs, stress, foods or chemicals. Often this work adds little to scientific knowledge but the animals are killed – or ‘sacrificed’, to use the industry jargon – anyway.

Part of the reason for this, say activists, is that the genetic and physiological differences between humans and mice are greater than once presumed. Cures that work in animal models sometimes fail – or are unsafe – in humans, and vice versa.

‘Trust us, we’re scientists’

So between accusations that industry groups are lobbying policymakers behind closed doors and claims that scientists are shy about sharing details of their work, it’s clear the public have been left out of the discussion.

Expecting the public to support the use of animals in research simply because most scientists say it’s necessary will no longer wash. There’s a lot of explaining to do…

So, it’s easy to find information that points the finger at industry and the biomedical community at large. Silence has been the preferred response so far, but its time the research community to step forward to help us understand what they are doing, for whom and why.

The EPAA is an independent platform which brings together the European Commission and industry groups to collaborate on implementing the 3 Rs Declaration. It has been running since 2005 and has done a lot to bring together people who don’t talk as much as they should – like companies and regulators, or scientists and EU officials.

Last year’s event put the focus on ‘reduction and refinement’ while this time around the spotlight is on Integrated Testing Strategies (ITS) in animal research.

ITS can be tricky to define but is essentially a way to connect animal research methods, non-animal testing techniques and computer-based modelling to advance the cause of our old friends, the 3Rs.

Last month the EPAA ran a workshop on ITS so the annual conference is a natural follow-on from that.

The discussion will look at how ITS can be applied in a way that delivers efficient science-based results while reducing the use of animals, but at the same time meeting the growing demands of authorities and legal risk assessors.

Given Europe’s current obsession with innovation and competitiveness, it will be interesting to see whether ITS can really be the silver bullet that delivers all the information scientists need without compromising on speed, cost, or product safety. Plus, given that we’re in Brussels, one wonders what the EU can do to promote the use of appropriate ITS?

Can public and private stakeholders work together on non-competitive projects that will ultimately benefit all, perhaps along the lines of the Innovation Medicines Initiative?

The conference programme looks busy so hopefully we’ll get some answers on 9 November. We’ll be attending with a video to capture feedback from the day.

The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) competition theme this year is ”Integrated Testing Strategies (ITS) and their impact on the implementation of the 3Rs”. It will be interesting to read the winning article as ITS doesn’t necessary mean non-animal alternatives.

The winning entry should help to inform the wider policy community and decision-makers and general public about the opportunities and challenges of Integrated Testing Strategies, including limitations, offered by scientific and technological progress.

Find out more and submit your essay.

We will be linking to the final article and seeking feedback from the community about the winner’s point of view.