Rethinking the gold standard

Better research practices could lead to less animal testing, says the Rathenau Institute’s Petra Verhoef

Major transitions are often best done slowly, but members of the Dutch lower house of parliament last week voiced concerns that the transition to animal-free research and innovation was happening too slowly.  

The discussion was sparked by Carola Schouten, minister of agriculture, nature and food quality, who debated progress on a planned reduction of animal experiments together with science minister Ingrid van Engelshoven. MPs said this was happening at too slow a pace—with little progress since the 2018 launch of the public-private Transition Programme for Innovation Without the Use of Animals.