Brazil starts to ban animal use in higher education: A positive and progressive development.

The Brazilian government has published a resolution that bans animal use in some practical classes within undergraduate and high school technical education from April 2019. Resolution No. 38/2018, issued by the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA), bans the killing of animals for dissection purposes and animal experiments in practical classes that do not involve the acquisition of new skills. The initial call for the ban was by the Brazilian Network for Humane Education (RedEH), an independent body comprising Brazilian professors and international collaborators dedicated to the implementation of replacement alternatives in education. The call was supported by InterNICHE, and many professors and other international organisations. The Brazilian Council of Veterinary Medicine, which is responsible for regulating the veterinary profession in Brazil, also stated its support for humane education and for the ban. The call was the first formal request, and it eventually led to the first legal resolution for the replacement of animal use in education in Brazil. This represents an important historic landmark in the advancement of science education.

On the journey toward humane education in Brazil: First request for a total ban of harmful animal use in professional and higher education.

The Brazilian Network for Humane Education (RedEH( is an independent and self-managed group comprised of academics from ten different Brazilian states and a number of international collaborators. In 2016, in a concerted effort to change the educational field in Brazil and propagate humane education, RedEH sent a request to the Brazilian National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA(, asking that harmful animal use in education in professional and undergraduate courses be banned. This was the first formal request for a total replacement of harmful animal use in education in Brazil, and represented a major historic landmark in the advancement of Brazilian science education. This paper presents the full text of the request, as well as outlining its national and international repercussions. The request was supported by InterNICHE and representatives of 18 other international organisations. A major national impact of the request was its recognition by the Federal Council of Veterinary Medicine. With this action, academics and researchers took a potentially revolutionary step in the Brazilian education arena, with regard to advancing and supporting a higher quality, ethical and democratic educational system.

Humane Education in Brazil: Organisation, Challenges and Opportunities.

Humane education and the debate on alternatives to harmful animal use for training is a relatively recent issue in Brazil. While animal use in secondary education has been illegal since the late 1970s, animal use in higher science education is widespread. However, alternatives to animal experiments in research and testing have recently received attention from the Government, especially after the first legislation on animal experiments was passed, in 2008. This article proposes that higher science education should be based on a critical and humane approach. It outlines the recent establishment of the Brazilian Network for Humane Education (RedEH), as a result of the project, Mapping Animal Use for Undergraduate Education in Brazil, which was recognised by the 2014 Lush Prize. The network aims to create a platform to promote change in science education in Brazil, starting by quantitatively and qualitatively understanding animal use, developing new approaches adapted to the current needs in Brazil and Latin America, and communicating these initiatives nationally. This paper explores the trajectory of alternatives and replacement methods to harmful animal use in training and education, as well as the status of humane education in Brazil, from the point of view of educators and researchers engaged with the network.

Lessons from Toxicology: Developing a 21st-Century Paradigm for Medical Research.

Biomedical developments in the 21st century provide an unprecedented opportunity to gain a dynamic systems-level and human-specific understanding of the causes and pathophysiologies of disease. This understanding is a vital need, in view of continuing failures in health research, drug discovery, and clinical translation. The full potential of advanced approaches may not be achieved within a 20th-century conceptual framework dominated by animal models. Novel technologies are being integrated into environmental health research and are also applicable to disease research, but these advances need a new medical research and drug discovery paradigm to gain maximal benefits. We suggest a new conceptual framework that repurposes the 21st-century transition underway in toxicology. Human disease should be conceived as resulting from integrated extrinsic and intrinsic causes, with research focused on modern human-specific models to understand disease pathways at multiple biological levels that are analogous to adverse outcome pathways in toxicology. Systems biology tools should be used to integrate and interpret data about disease causation and pathophysiology. Such an approach promises progress in overcoming the current roadblocks to understanding human disease and successful drug discovery and translation. A discourse should begin now to identify and consider the many challenges and questions that need to be solved.

[The characterization of the use of animals in teaching from the perception of students of biological and health sciences]. / A caracterização do uso de animais no ensino a partir da percepção de estudantes de ciências biológicas e da saúde.

Animals are used for various purposes in the scientific realm and their use in teaching is highlighted in this research. Seeking to understand this use better, a questionnaire was administered to 427 students of medicine, pharmacy and biological sciences of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul federal universities. Data was gathered revealing high rates of feelings of discomfort, and the predominant interest in supporting the substitution of animals in the teaching environment. The conclusion reached is that the use of animals for teaching purposes has the ability to generate strong conflict, especially when the perception of animal suffering is identified by the students. Finally, three types of use of animals in the context of teaching are proposed.

A caracterização do uso de animais no ensino a partir da percepção de estudantes de ciências biológicas e da saúde / The characterization of the use of animals in teaching from the perception of students of biological and health sciences

Animais são utilizados para diversos fins no âmbito científico, sendo destacado nesta pesquisa o emprego no ensino. Objetivando melhor caracterizar esse uso, um questionário foi aplicado a 427 estudantes de medicina, farmácia e ciências biológicas das universidades federais de Santa Catarina e Rio Grande do Sul. Uma série de dados pode ser levantada, como a elevada taxa de sensação de incômodo, e o interesse predominante de apoiar a substituição de animais no âmbito do ensino. Concluímos que o uso de animais para fins didáticos tem alto poder gerador de conflitos – especialmente quando a percepção do sofrimento animal é identificada pelos estudantes. Por fim, três tipos de uso de animais no contexto do ensino são propostos.

Animals are used for various purposes in the scientific realm and their use in teaching is highlighted in this research. Seeking to understand this use better, a questionnaire was administered to 427 students of medicine, pharmacy and biological sciences of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul federal universities. Data was gathered revealing high rates of feelings of discomfort, and the predominant interest in supporting the substitution of animals in the teaching environment. The conclusion reached is that the use of animals for teaching purposes has the ability to generate strong conflict, especially when the perception of animal suffering is identified by the students. Finally, three types of use of animals in the context of teaching are proposed.

Animal experimentation and scientific knowledge: a thought style?

Animal experimentation, besides a research method extensively applied in the production of scientific knowledge, is also considered essential to science and with undeniable historical relevance in advances in human health. In this survey, a questionnaire was applied to a group of researchers involved with research based on non-animal models (n =18), and to another group involved with research based on animal models (n =18). The data analysis was grounded in Ludwik Fleck (1896 -1961) epistemological assumptions. The results suggested that there are at least two thought styles operating in consonance on the same research problem (advances in human health conditions) with significantly different conceptions not only concerning the research practices involved, but also the historical conceptions related to the role of animal experimentation.

A experimentação animal, além de método amplamente aplicado na produção do conhecimento científico, é considerada como essencial à ciência e com valor histórico inegável no progresso das condições de saúde humana. Neste levantamento, um questionário foi aplicado a um grupo de pesquisadores com trabalhos baseados em modelos não-animais (n =18) e a outro grupo com trabalhos baseados em modelos animais (n =18). A análise de dados se baseou nos pressupostos epitemológicos de Ludwik Fleck (1896-1961). Os dados sugerem que existem pelo menos dois estilos de pensamento operando em consonância sobre o mesmo problema de pesquisa (avanços nas condições de saúde humana), com concepções significativamente diferentes sobre as práticas de pesquisa envolvidas, assim como as concepções históricas relacionadas ao papel da experimentação animal.

Refining animal experiments: the first Brazilian regulation on animal experimentation.

The very first law on animal experimentation has been approved recently in Brazil, and now is part of a set of the legal instruments that profile the Brazilian government's attitude toward the use of animals in experiments. Law 11794/08 establishes a new legal instrument that will guide new methods of conduct for ethics committees, researchers and representatives of animal protection societies. This comment aims to analyse critically the implications that this law brings to Brazilian reality. The link between it and the Russell and Burch's Three Rs concept is defined, and certain problems are identified. The conclusion is that the body of the law emphasises the refinement of animal experiments, but gives little importance to the principles of reduction and replacement.