2016/10/27
CIC bioGUNE statement on the use of research animals
CIC bioGUNE has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted by the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA). This initiative was launched on September 20th, 2016.
An important part of the research undertaken at CIC bioGUNE aims at contributing to the improvement of human health and wellbeing and is carried out thanks to the use of animals. Animal experimentation plays a fundamental role in the discovery of the underlying biological mechanisms of disease, and in the development of medical treatments. Without research with animals, we would not have most of the medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques that are nowadays applied in human and veterinary medicine.
The welfare of animals used for research purposes is of paramount importance for CIC bioGUNE, as is the strict compliance and respect to the current legislation on the protection of animals used in research. Our aim is to achieve the highest standards in animal welfare, not only from the point of view of our moral responsibility to them, but also because we are convinced that we could not achieve research excellence without proper animal welfare. Our experiments with animals follow the legal standard and are assessed by an Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation that promotes the use of alternative methods, the reduction in the number of animals used and the refinement in the experimental protocols applied. Not a single research project requiring the use of animals could start without the appropriate and required Ethics assessment and the eventual authorization by the competent authorities. Our work is also supervised and accredited by AAALAC International, a non-profit organization that oversees the application of the most strict welfare standards for experimentation with animals.
CIC bioGUNE also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers posses the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in high quality, controlled facilities and under continuous veterinary care.