Humane endpoints for laboratory animals used in regulatory testing

Laboratory animals are used for regulatory testing to assess the safety, efficacy, and/or potential adverse health effects of new chemicals and products such as vaccines, medicines, food additives, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Testing results are used for risk assessment decisions intended to safeguard human and animal health. However, chemical toxicity and vaccine testing can cause injury, disease, and mortality involving significant pain and distress. Alleviation of pain and distress in animals during testing is problematic because regulations allow treatment only if the treatment does not interfere with the study. One approach to this problem has been to identify criteria that can serve as the basis for ending a test procedure sooner in an effort to terminate or avoid pain and distress while still allowing attainment of study objectives. These criteria are referred to as humane endpoints because they reduce the severity and/or duration of pain and distress experienced by an animal. New and revised test methods and approaches that incorporate humane endpoints are being considered and adopted by national and international regulatory testing authorities. The prerequisite for adoption of these methods is a determination that the methods have been adequately validated and that they provide equivalent or better information for risk assessment. Further progress in reducing animal pain and distress resulting from regulatory testing is expected as scientific and technological advances are incorporated into testing procedures and strategies.