United Kingdom Announces New Center for Animal Research Alternatives

The U.K. government has developed plans for the National Centre for Replacement of Animals in Experiments (NCRAE). NCRAE’s mission is to promote and coordinate efforts to advance the three R’s of animal use in medical research—replacement, reduction, and refinement. On the surface, this looks like a positive step. However, it appears that NCRAE will actually be funding animal experiments to compare various methods. PCRM holds that the U.K. government should place more emphasis on Replacement, which, unlike Reduction and Refinement, involves new ideas and approaches, and represents the most progressive change for animals.