Danish 3R-Center

The Danish 3R-Center was established in June 2013 by the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry and animal welfare organisations.

The Danish 3R-Center was established in June 2013 by the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry and animal welfare organisations.

As early as 2005, the Danish government decided to establish the Danish Consensus Platform for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (DACOPA), under the European network ecopa (European Consensus-Platform for Alternatives).

The purpose of DACOPA was to bring together representatives of animal protection organisations, private-public research and authorities to seek consensus on animal testing issues with a particular view to promoting the 3Rs.

DACOPA consisted of a chairman and two representatives of each of the four above groups which provided an opportunity to share lessons learned and discuss how to promote the 3Rs in Denmark and abroad in the best possible way. However, DACOPA was challenged by a lack of funding for launching research projects and there was no secretarial assistance for performing the tasks that DACOPA wished to implement.

This was not satisfactory for the groups of stakeholders, which was expressed in a stakeholder analysis carried out in 2011/2012 among all interested parties in the field of laboratory animals. Almost unanimously, the feedback was that Denmark should either set up a 3R-Center inspired by the British NC3Rs (National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research) and the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) or allocate sufficient funding to DACOPA.

Following negotiations between the Ministry of Food, the pharmaceutical industry and a number of animal welfare organisations, it was agreed in the spring of 2013 to establish the Danish 3R-Center with a scientific board, a budget of its own, research funding and a secretariat. The Alternative Fund, the Danish Animal Welfare Society, the Danish Laboratory Animal Protection Society, LEO Pharma, Lundbeck and Novo Nordisk decided to contribute funding for the project, and the Danish Ministry of Food offered operational and research funding- The Alternative Fund and The Danish Laboratory Animal Protection Society are no longer contributors to the Danish 3R-Center.

DOSO (a collaboration of Danish animal welfare organisations) has also supported the 3R-Center since 2017.

The Center's tasks are to:
  • Promote the development of alternatives to animal testing
  • Minimise the use of laboratory animals in specific experiments
  • Improve conditions of laboratory animals
  • Collect and disseminate knowledge on alternatives to animal testing
  • Initiate and support research in laboratory animal studies and the development of alternatives
  • Cooperate with similar centres abroad

The 3R-Center promotes the 3Rs by initiating research projects focusing on one or more of the 3Rs and by disseminating knowledge and best practices of the 3Rs in Denmark. Every year DKK 1.5 million is reserved for research funding.

The Center's Board also functions as Denmark's National Committee for the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific Purposes.

A new Board was appointed in 2023. Overviews (in Danish) of the previous Board members and their activity from 2013 to 2023 have been published.

 

 

Norecopa's global map of 3R Centres.

This page was updated on 19 July 2023

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