Estimating the Impact of Three Rs Research
Between 50–60% of the projects reviewed included at least some degree of replacement, but it was very difficult, particularly with earlier papers, to establish reliable numbers.
A review of Three Rs projects has demonstrated how difficult it is to estimate the number of animal lives saved through non-animal research.
The report says: “It has proved impossible to gather complete information on a given project, even though we made use of all available documentation.”
The study was carried out by Dr Stefanie Schindler, scientific advisor at Animalfree Research (AfR) in Switzerland to mark the 25th anniversary of the country’s 3R Research Foundation (3RRF). In a report published in 3RRF’s InfoBulletin she says the Foundation has invested 17 million Swiss francs in Three Rs research projects since 1987. One of the aims of her study was to examine the strategy applied by the
organisation so far, and to measure the performance and efficiency of the funding procedure. It is believed to be the first time that a systematic, quantitative assessment of the impact of Three Rs project work on the life sciences has been performed.
Even when a project was designed to provide an immediate replacement from in
vivo to in vitro methods it was impossible to establish comparison figures from before and after the change. “Since the number of experiments using
Criteria deemed relevant to the survey included reduction in animal numbers used, and reduction in the severity of procedures carried out.
the often quicker, easier and cheaper in
vitro method tends to increase, resulting numbers of saved animals cannot provide reliable information.”
How Does Influenza Spread? A Human Volunteer Study Researchers at the University of Nottingham are leading an investigation into how the influenza virus spreads between people. The Evaluating Modes of Influenza Transmission (EMIT) study will administer flu virus to volunteers in a quarantined setting, enabling scientists to examine in detail how the disease is transmitted from person to person.
very clear — through coughing and sneezing, but it’s what lies beneath that cough or sneeze which is important. We need to know if it’s big particles (large droplets) or tiny particles (aerosols) which are important in the transmission of the virus, as this will affect whether nursing and medical staff should wear
a simple face mask or a respirator, for instance, when treating people with this condition. “At first glance, the idea of giving people flu sounds unusual, but it’s actually something that has been done for decades in carefully controlled scientific circumstances using a slightly weakened virus. “Scientists regularly give people a wellcharacterised flu virus to test drugs and vaccines, so we thought why can’t we turn this model on its head and give people this flu virus in the same way, but instead of studying treatment, see how it can be transmitted to other people?”
The study is being led by the University’s Health Protection and Influenza Research Group (HPIRG), which will also coordinate the efforts of the EMIT Consortium, a group of partners from the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA. The collaborators span multiple disciplines including medicine, epidemiology, infection control building engineering, aerobiology and mathematical modelling. HPIRG is led by Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, of the University of Nottingham’s School of Community Health Sciences and the Health Protection Agency East Midlands. He said: “People could argue that the transmission of influenza between humans is
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