Ethics in animal experimentation

"Animals for scientific purposes has been, and still is today, necessary for the improvement of human and animal health, but also for fundamental and agronomic research or the preservation of species and the environment. But it is not without ethical questioning and constant efforts to find reliable alternative methods. INRAE, like all research establishments, applies French regulations, which are derived from European regulations and which strictly control animal experimentation. The Institute also participates in national inter-institute structures in this field and in the project, to create a French centre dedicated to this issue, following the example of those that exist in several European countries."

INRAE: an institute with an ethical approach to animal experimentation

On the Le Pin experimental Unit, experiments on animals are mainly of the order of sampling and behavioural observations:

• Sampling of milk, blood, hair, skin, faeces, urine, etc.
• Observation of feeding behaviour: growth, milk curves, etc.
• Observations of reproductive behaviour: heat, cyclicity, etc.
• Observations of social behaviour: animal welfare