By Adrian Smith

This website provides information on laboratory animal science and alternatives to the use of animals in research, teaching and school dissection classes.

The site was constructed by the Laboratory Animal Unit at The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. In January 2011 the responsibility for this website was taken over by Norecopa, Norway's Consensus-Platform for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animal Experiments.

Norecopa aims for consensus between the four stakeholders involved in animal research: government, academia, industry and the animal welfare movement. Norecopa has its own website (www.norecopa.no), which should be read in conjunction with these pages.

This site aims to be an international reference centre for Laboratory Animal Science, based on the three Rs of Russell & Burch:

  • Replace - replace animal experiments where possible with alternatives.
  • Reduce - reduce the number of experiments, and the number of animals in each experiment, to an absolute minimum.
  • Refine - refine experiments that have to be carried out, so that the animals undergo the minimum of discomfort (preferably none at all), and such that the scientific quality is as high as possible.

From 1991-2011 the Laboratory Animal Unit collected information on nearly 4,000 audiovisual aids that may be used as alternatives to animals in teaching and training, including dissection alternatives, at all levels from junior school to University.  This information was used to create an English-language database called NORINA (A Norwegian Inventory of Audiovisuals), which is available free of charge on this website. An additional database (TextBase) contains information on over 1,400 textbooks of relevance to Laboratory Animal Science.

In January 2011 the Laboratory Animal Unit became part of the new Section for Experimental Biomedicine, which has its own website. The Section plays a national role in the education of all categories of people working with experimental animals. The Unit is visited regularly by schoolchildren and the mass media (Guided Tour on the Internet). You will find more general information on laboratory animal science, which we have assembled especially for schoolchildren, by clicking here. Her er mer informasjon om dyreforsøk på norsk. Click here for more general information about the Section for Experimental Biomedicine. Press releases and similar articles describing the work of the Section for Experimental Biomedicine are available here.



The Laboratory Animal Unit is accredited by AAALAC International (Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care).


This page was updated 16.11.2011.
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Norecopa
P.O. Box 750 Sentrum
N-0106 Oslo, Norway		   Tel: +47 41 22 09 49
E-mail: post@norecopa.no
http://oslovet.norecopa.no