EARA and Gircor, the French advocacy organisation on animal research, held an in-person event in Paris this week aimed at fostering greater openness in how animal research is communicated to the public, policymakers, and opinion leaders.
Professionals from the biomedical sector listened to a range of speakers and discussed good practices and strategies for enhancing transparency around animal research.
Ivan Balansard (Gircor) presented the specific situation about French attitudes towards animal research, including findings from a survey on public perceptions of the 3Rs principles. The survey revealed that Refinement received the most public interest, indicating a focus on improving animal welfare rather than eliminating animal research altogether.
EARA executive director, Kirk Leech, had earlier opened the event by examining the current state of biomedical research openness and how institutions should embrace it through transparency agreements, already established all over Europe and worldwide.
He also cautioned against the ‘exaggeration of the use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs)’ as a like-for-like replacement for animals in biomedical research, and stressed that while alternative methods are valuable, they cannot yet fully replicate the complexity of living systems.
Laurence Bonnet (Marshall Bioresources Europe) and Pascal Ance (Silabe), pictured, jointly discussed transparency efforts from the private sector and they shared examples of good practices in openness, including site visits, media engagement, and proactive communication about animal welfare standards.
The workshop concluded with a panel discussion conducted by Nuno Gonçalves (EARA), which also included Athanassia Sotiropoulos (French Centre for 3Rs), where speakers and participants explored ways to overcome communication challenges within research institutions, such as talking about the excessive focus on replacement in 3Rs and the difficulty of dealing with animal rights groups that believe humans do not have the right to exploit any non-human animals – accusing scientists of ‘speciesism.’