Recommendations to limit the increased damage to animal welfare in legally required safety research for chemical substances as much as possible.
Netherlands Committee for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. For the laboratory animals of today and the innovations of tomorrow.
At the NCad we are concerned about increased suffering of animals used for safety testing of chemicals. As an independent advisory body dedicated to the protection of laboratory animals we see a worrying trend: in Europe animal welfare and the quality of chemical safety tests is ensured by OECD test guidelines. These state that the test dose should be as small as possible to induce an effect while suffering of animals is minimized. However, in 2022 the European Chemical Agency published clarifying advice in an effort to improve the test method quality stating that the test dose should be as high as possible without causing severe suffering. Thus, instead of minimal suffering severe suffering of animals is frequently the endpoint. The grave consequence is that suffering is increased. But the quality of testing is not improved and possibly even compromised. Therefore, the NCad issued a Policy Advice to the ministry of agriculture urging immediate action to prevent this unnecessary suffering of animals. To learn more about our assessment download the Policy Advice from our website.