Alternatives to animal experimentation: ethical, historical, and legal issues in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Disner, Geonildo Rodrigo
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Evidência - Ciência e Biotecnologia - Interdisciplinar
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unoesc.edu.br/evidencia/article/view/20964
• topic: Toxicologia; Teste in vitro; 3 Rs; Toxicology; In vitro tests; 3 Rs

Currently millions of animals have been used in experiments around the world. The pain, distress and death experienced by animals have been a subject of intense debate in recent years. There is a demand for the substitution of traditional techniques, which use animals indiscriminately by other methods. These assays are based on the 3Rs approach (Reduction, Refinement and Replacement), that reduce the number of living beings, refine the tests to increase the animal welfare or replace them for in vitro techniques. Brazil is under the regulatory process and compulsory use of some of these alternative tests. On the other hand, seven Brazilian states already have local laws banning animal testing with products and ingredients for cosmetics purposes. This review provides a brief description of the substitutive methods according to their purpose in assessing the safety profile of chemical compounds, besides the associated technical and ethical advantages, and the history of legal advances in Brazilian law. The current scenario represents both a breakthrough and a challenge for industry and regulatory agencies towards readjustment and judgment, and in the med-term it is an important transition to the incorporation of new technologies by Science and changing paradigms regarding ethical scientific conduct.