Christa Thöne-Reinecke, “Ethical Justification of Animal Experiments in Germany”

All animal ethical positions are largely in agreement that animals – as beings capable of suffering – must be morally considered for their own sake and that certain consequences for one’s own actions must be derived from this.
This insight has been incorporated into animal protection legislation based on the EU Directive 2010/63.
German legislation requires a reasonable justification of the pain, suffering, and harm inflicted on animals.
For this reason, every scientist must demonstrate ethical justifiability of the intended experiment in accordance with the principle of proportionality within the framework of the approval procedure of animal experiments.
More specifically, it must be demonstrated that no alternative method in reaching the project´s aims exists. Furthermore, the project´s indispensability must be scientifically explained and it must be assigned to a permissible purpose. Study planning must be carried out by implementing statistical methods to reduce the number of animals and their burden to the indispensable level.
Animal keeping and medical care must be ensured by the permission to keep and breed animals in the context of a culture of care.
Ultimately, the expected gain in knowledge must be set in relation to the burden inflicted on the animals and must be ethically justifiable or may even be considered an ethical imperative.
The scientist´s proposal and declarations are then revised by the animal welfare officer and, if applicable, by the ethics committee of respective institution.
It is then further examined by the local authorities and the §15 Commission, in which ethics experts and animal welfare organizations are actively involved.
After this revision process, also involving the responsible scientist, the final examination and approval is carried out by the local authorities.
It must be considered that ethical concepts and attitudes of society may be subject to change in the course of time. Hence, a high degree of transparency is necessary in order to maintain public approval.

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