Retrospective Assessment of Animals Experimentation Projects in Romania – A Critical Analysis of Non-Technical Summaries

The aim of the present inquiry was to design an overview about the non-technical summaries available on the web page of the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Agency (Romania). We analyzed the compliance to the requirement of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3R’s). 56 projects were found, the most of them (48), were assigned as “basic research”, 2 as “translational and applied research”, 2 as “regulatory use and routine analysis”, while 4 projects targeted “higher education or training”. The most common animals species used were rats, and mice, followed by rabbits, pigs, hamsters, guinea pigs and frogs (Rana sp.). According to cumulative severity of the project, 20 projects were classified as “severe”, six as “moderate”, three “mild”, and three as “non-recovery”. 24 projects had nor a severity assessment, neither a proper description of the level of severity. In our opinion, the number of projects classified as “severe” is too high; at least for some of them, the level of severity could be reduced using appropriate pain control techniques and / or human end-points. Overall, our recommendation is further improving the knowledge and skills of the personal involved in authorization and execution of the projects and of the authority inspectors that authorized the projects.