Section 1 of Germany’s Animal Welfare Act defines humans’ responsibility toward animals. It states, “The aim of this Act is to protect the lives and well-being of animals, based on the responsibility of human beings for their fellow creatures. No one may cause an animal pain, suffering, or harm without good reason.” This responsibility toward animals used for scientific purposes is articulated in more detail throughout the Animal Welfare Act as well as in numerous other ordinances and regulations on a national and international level. This duty to protect animals must then be weighed against a different responsibility, namely that of academic freedom as defined under Article 5.3 of Germany’s Basic Law, with the goal of finding a balance between these two factors based on the principle of proportionality.

The European Union’s Directive 2010/63/EU enshrines the 3R Principle (Replace, Reduce, Refine) within a binding legal framework. The 3R Principle was established by William Russell and Rex Burch in 1959 and requires scientists to Replace animal experimentation altogether (and use other means of testing) whenever possible; to Reduce the number of animals used in experiments as much as possible; and to Refine animal experiments so that they cause as little distress to animals as possible. The 3Rs themselves are based on another R that constitutes the very foundation of ethical behavior: “Responsibility.”

A strong sense of responsibility must first exist for the 3Rs to be implemented. It is also a precondition for other ethical principles applied to evaluating animal experiments. However, the 3Rs do not constitute an exhaustive list of the responsibilities that humans have toward animals. That is why lawmakers require scientists to provide ethics statements that justify the specific animal experiment that they propose to undertake and for which they require approval.

A firm understanding of ethics – or what is known as “ethical literacy” – is necessary for anyone putting together a statement like this. Unfortunately, the knowledge needed here rarely figures into the curricula of degree programs for future scientists who will plan and implement animal experiments themselves someday. Ethical literacy must be treated as an essential element of these degree programs to ensure that graduates are equipped to deal with the ethical and moral issues that arise in the context of animal experiments. A basic ethical education provides them with the tools they need to make responsible decisions. But this kind of education is not just necessary for students; members of the various supervisory and licensing authorities – as well as animal welfare officers at these institutions – also require training in this area. A look at the current educational and training materials specifically on the ethical responsibility of scientists or others involved in animal experiments makes it readily apparent that the materials available are rather superficial and do not offer practical assistance for dealing with such complex questions.

This is where 3REthicsWeb comes in. With the support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the project aims to develop an e-learning platform that will provide practical training materials and educational resources on ethical literacy. The platform will allow users to engage with real-life scenarios and to apply their knowledge of 3R Principle ethics and alternative methods to animal experiment situations.