3R Theory of Animal Welfare —— About the Welfare of Experimental Animals

1954, 1926, Professor C. Hume of UFAW made a scientific research plan for humanitarian technology in animal experiments. The book "Principles of Humanitarian Experiment Technology" published by 1959 put forward the 3R theory comprehensively and systematically for the first time. 3R is the abbreviation of reduction, replacement and optimization. At present, under the influence of the animal protection movement in western countries, the "3r" movement has arisen in the experimental animal industry, that is, the reduction, substitution and optimization of experimental animals.

"Reduction" refers to the use of in vitro methods or other abiotic methods to reduce the number of live animals used. For example, to prepare monoclonal antibodies in the field of biological research, it is necessary to pump a cell into the abdominal cavity of mice, and after a period of time, let the mice produce ascites. At this time, the ascites is pumped out, and there are monoclonal antibodies in the ascites, and so on. Now people have developed an in vitro method to reduce the dose of mice.

"Substitution" refers to replacing living animals with in vitro methods or insensitive biological materials. The former uses inanimate in vitro experiments instead of in vivo experiments, and cell chip is one of them. The latter is to replace higher animals with lower animals, such as fish instead of primates.

"Optimization" refers to creating a good experimental environment for animals or reducing the pain and anxiety caused to animals and improving animal welfare when experiments must be carried out with animals. For example, in the process of preparing antibodies from animals, Freund's adjuvant is usually used, but it is very irritating to animals and easily causes local tissue swelling, abscess and necrosis. To this end, Dutch scientists proposed five alternatives to optimize the experiment.

Finally, the "3r" movement gradually reduced the use of experimental animals, required higher and higher quality, and improved the accuracy and reliability of the experimental period. The "3r" movement reflects the international general trend that experimental animal science has changed from strict technical requirements to humanitarian management and advocated the welfare and protection of experimental animals.

1989, Europe passed the animal protection law, which made the 3R more specific. 1993, the European Alternative Method Verification Center (ECVAM) with 15 countries was established in Italy. It is clearly stipulated in its related documents that after 1998 65438+ 10 1, if the animal testing alternative method of cosmetics or cosmetic ingredients has not been fully verified, animal testing will be prohibited and related products will not be sold in Europe. At present, it has not been realized in China, which means that China's cosmetics cannot enter the European market for the time being.