The Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) has worked with scientists, since 1981, to find new methods to replace the use of laboratory animals in experiments, reduce the number of animals tested, and refine necessary tests to eliminate pain and distress (the
Three Rs as described in Russell and Burch's ''Principles of Humane Experimental Technique''). CAAT is an academic, science-based center affiliated with the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...
.
CAAT promotes humane science by supporting the creation, development, validation, and use of alternatives to animals in research, product safety testing, and education. It is not an activist group; rather, it seeks to effect change by working with scientists in industry, government, and academia to find new ways to replace animals with non-animal methods, reduce the numbers of animals necessary, or refine methods to make them less painful or stressful to the animals involved.
CAAT has offered grants since 1993 that fund development of non-animal in-vitro test methods that may replace the use of laboratory animals in certain tests.
Starting in 2013, CAAT has co-sponsored an annual symposium with the Animal Welfare Information Center (
National Agricultural Library
The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located ...
, USDA) and the
Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
The Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) oversees the care and use of research animals in any public or private organization, business, or agency (including components of Federal, state, and local governments). The Public Health Service consi ...
(NIH) on the Three Rs. The first six symposia focused on the social housing of laboratory animals, since it has been shown that housing social species with other animals of their kind improves animal welfare. The most recent symposium, "7th Annual 3Rs Symposium: Practical Solutions and Success Stories," occurred virtually on June 4-5, 2020 and addressed topics throughout the spectrum of the Three Rs, including using brain organoids to study infectious diseases such as Covid-19 or Zika, using Grimace Scales to access animal pain, positive reinforcement training of lab animals, and using guidelines such as ARRIVE and PREPARE to design experiments that use fewer animals.
CAAT holds an annual Summer School at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, for members of the laboratory animal community to share innovations and techniques in the 3Rs.
See also
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Alternatives to animal testing
Alternatives to animal testing are the development and implementation of test methods that avoid the use of live animals.
There is widespread agreement that a reduction in the number of animals used and the refinement of testing to reduce suffer ...
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Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods
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List of animal rights groups
This list of animal rights groups consists of groups in the animal rights movement. Such animal rights groups work towards their ideals, which include the viewpoint that animals should have equivalent rights to humans, such as not being "used" i ...
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Dr Hadwen Trust
Animal Free Research UK (AFRUK), formerly the Dr Hadwen Trust, is a UK medical research charity that funds and promotes non-animal techniques to replace animal experiments.
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Henry Spira
Henry Spira (19 June 1927 – 12 September 1998) was an American activist for socialism and animal rights, who is regarded by some as one of the most effective animal advocates of the 20th century.Singer, in Spira and Singer 2006, pp. 214–215.
...
References
External links
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7th Annual 3Rs Symposium: Practical Solutions and Success Stories June 4-5, 2020, Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library (videos of presentations from the 7th annual 3Rs symposium)
Selected Presentations: Symposiums on Social Housing of Laboratory Animals Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library (videos of presentations from the first six CAAT Social Housing symposia, 2013-2019)
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Animal research institutes
Animal welfare organizations based in the United States
Animal testing
Anti-vivisection organizations
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing