Refinement, Reduction, and Replacement

In their 1959 publication The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique , Russell and Burch defined three criteria to be used to alleviate the sources and incidences of inhumanity when performing animal experimentation. These include reduction, replacement , and refinement. To quote these authors, “Replacement means the substitution for conscious living higher animals of insentient material. Reduction means reduction in the numbers of animals used to obtain information of a given amount and precision. Refinement means any decrease in the incidence or severity of inhumane procedures applied to those animals which still have to be used.” In this chapter, we will discuss methods that can be applied in transgenic animal facilities to better adhere to the goals of the three R’s, as well as include a fourth “R”-ways of re-using animals.