RUS-LASA 2025 DECLARATION on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific, Technological, and Educational Purposes.
Dear Colleagues!
The Russian Association of Laboratory Animal Specialists has developed this declaration based on modern scientific knowledge, as well as Russian and international standards. The Rus-LASA2025 Declaration is the official position of the Association and contains an indication of the ethical guidelines that underlie the rules for keeping and handling animals when using them in research, training, as well as the development and testing of medical products (medicines and medical devices).
1. At the current stage of scientific development, progress in knowledge is impossible without the use of animals as research subjects and test systems.
2. The use of animals for scientific, technological, and educational purposes, which have been shown to experience pain, distress, and suffering, is permitted subject to ethical approval of the relevant project.
3. Ethical review of experimental projects involving animals must be carried out by specialized competent bodies within institutions, guided by an assessment of the balance between the harm caused to animals during their use and the potential benefit of the implemented project.
4. Approval of a project for the use of animals for scientific, technological, and educational purposes is permitted provided that it complies with the principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement (the 3Rs principles: replacement, reduction, and refinement). The project must justify the impossibility of replacing animals with alternative methods and objects (the principle of replacement). Researchers must use methods that minimize the number of animals used (the principle of reduction). All possible measures to prevent (or promptly eliminate) pain, distress, suffering, and damage with long-term negative consequences that can be avoided (the principle of refinement) must be described.
5. Animal housing conditions must correspond to their species-specific needs; they must be provided with all necessary vital resources, as well as care that takes into account their health and ensures their well-being. Any restrictions that prevent animals from fully satisfying their physiological and ethological needs must be justified in the context of the planned experiment, kept to a minimum, and reflected in the application for ethical review. Animals must be provided with timely and sufficient veterinary care.
6. When performing painful manipulations, pain relief techniques and methods that are effective for the given animal species and permitted by regulatory documents must be used. Animal suffering must be kept to a minimum, and their condition during care and experiments must be monitored by a person responsible for animal welfare, with sufficient frequency to prevent deterioration. Severe and prolonged suffering of animals without the possibility of rapid relief is unacceptable.
7. If severe suffering occurs, the experimental procedure must be discontinued. If it is impossible to alleviate the animal’s suffering, humane killing (euthanasia) must be performed immediately.
8. Animals must be killed using a method appropriate for the specific animal species and that does not affect the outcome or progress of the experiment. Disposal of dead animals is permitted only after a qualified staff member has confirmed the animal’s death.
9. All practices that ensure compliance with the 3Rs principles must be described in the animal use project submitted for ethical review.
10. Personnel working with animals must have sufficient qualifications and experience to comply with the 3Rs principles in practice.
We invite everyone to voluntarily join the Rus-LASA2025 Declaration. Solidarity with the Declaration signifies agreement with all its theses and a willingness to support their implementation in work with experimental animals. Joining the Rus-LASA2025 Declaration may have reputational benefits for the organization and its representatives.
Voluntary accession to the Rus-LASA2025 Declaration involves completing an online form.
You can join as an individual or on behalf of your organization; logos of institutions that have voluntarily joined the Declaration may be posted on the Rus-LASA website.
Colleagues, we thank you for your attention to the initiatives of the Association of Laboratory Animal Specialists. Together, we will accomplish a very important task: by caring for the well-being of experimental animals, we are raising the level of our research, which will positively impact the health and quality of life of each of us!
By signing the declaration, you agree to the processing and distribution of personal data in accordance with the association’s personal data processing policy.
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