By "alternatives" to the use of animals in research, Norecopa endorses the internationally accepted tenet of The Three R's (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement), developed by Russell and Burch in the UK in the 1950s. There are separate pages with resources for each of these three Rs:

• Replacement
• Reduction
• Refinement

The 3R concept was developed in the 1950s primarily to reduce the inhumanity of animal research and testing - although Russell & Burch also discussed how to improve the validity of scientific studies. Such an improvement involves more than focus on inhumanity: Refinement, for example, includes the improvement of internal, external and construct validity (the 3Vs).

In recent years two other acronyms have emerged: NATs and NAMs, which describe methods that avoid or replaces animal use. NATs and NAMs are discussed in more detail here.

Here is a global map of 3R centres.

The Three S's of Carol Newton are a good adjunct to the three R's.

The PREPARE guidelines and their associated webpages give comprehensive guidance on how to plan animal experiments in the spirit of these principles.

See also Norecopa's collection of links to databases on alternatives.

In this section there are separate pages with more information on:

• Alternatives to animal research and testing
• Alternatives to animal dissections

EU Directive 2010/63, which Norway has transposed, is part of efforts to achieve 'the final goal of full replacement of procedures on live animals for scientific and educational purposes as soon as it is scientifically possible to do so'. To that end, it 'seeks to facilitate and promote the advancement of alternative approaches. It also seeks to ensure a high level of protection for animals that still need to be used in procedures' (Recital 10).

The UK organisation RSPCA has made a list of 10 things that need to happen if research animals are to be phased out. These are illustrated in their infographic:

Other links

• Barney Reed (2023): Phasing out the use of animals in science
• Kinter et al. (2021): A brief history of use of animals in biomedical research and perspective on non-animal alternatives
• Accelerating progress in the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal testing through better knowledge sharing (EU report, 2016)
• Get Real! Resources about animal research and alternatives
• NAT: Non-Animal Technologies database
• It's Time to Think Outside the Cage (TED talk by Charu Chandrasekera, Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, CCAAM)
• Alternative methods for toxicity testing (EURL ECVAM)
• DB-ALM (EURL ECVAM's database of alternative methods)