Report on the conference "Animal testing and society: philosophical issues in supervising projects using animals and areas for improvement"

On September 8, 2023, the conference "Reducing the number of animals used in research: is the choice of method a regulatory, ethical or scientific necessity?" was held in the Duclaux lecture hall and via Teams.

Some 210 of you attended this event, organized jointly by the Committee for Ethics in Animal Experimentation (CETEA) and the Center for Animal Resources and Research (C2RA) at the Institut Pasteur. This year, we were delighted to welcome more than 40 members of the Pasteur Network (representatives from the Institut Pasteur in Algeria, Belgium, Cameroon, Guadeloupe, Lille, Madagascar, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia).

The conference provided an overview of the regulatory context and the European and French initiatives adopted to reduce the number of animals used in research. After presenting several specific examples of approaches to reduce the number of animals used in research (organoids and organs-on-chips at the Institut Pasteur, the use of non-animal models or invertebrates/non-sensitive animals at the Institut Curie, and the principles and importance of systematic reviews), a round table was held to discuss the resources that should be implemented at the Institut Pasteur to achieve further progress in this area. As already adopted by the European Commission and in some companies that have developed a strategy to reduce their use of animal models, the Institut Pasteur needs to introduce a 3R program so that it can identify achievable goals, plan and fund their implementation, and measure and demonstrate the progress made. To this end, a working group tasked by the CETEA to reflect on measures that would reduce the number of animals used in research at the Institut Pasteur recently drafted a report containing around 15 practical recommendations.

The conference came to a close with a presentation by Mathilde Dessaux-Lecompte (from the French Parliamentary Office For Scientific and Technological Assessment – OPECST) and a question and answer session to improve awareness and understanding of the processes that lead to new regulations in this field. 

A short questionnaire will soon be sent out to all those who were registered for the conference so that the organizers can gather your views on the format and speakers and so that you can share your expectations and requirements for future events on the topic. Thank you for taking part.

If you were unable to attend, a video of the event is now available online.

To watch (you may be asked to enter your Pasteur email login details)