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Welcome to the RSPCA/LASA/LAVA/IAT severe suffering web resource

There are legal, ethical and scientific reasons to minimise suffering within animal research and testing. While this applies to all levels of suffering, severe suffering is of the greatest concern to many people - including researchers, as nobody wants to cause severe pain or distress.

We have partnered with LASA, LAVA and IAT to create this resource, which will help you to reduce and avoid severe suffering, as part of the RSPCA’s ongoing work with respect to laboratory animals.

These pages are for anyone involved with research animal use, care or regulation, but on some topics information is tailored for (1) researchers, (2) animal technologists or veterinarians and (3) members of ethics or animal care and use committees, such as Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Bodies (AWERBs), Animal Welfare Bodies (AWBs) or Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUCs).

Individuals from industry, academia, regulatory authorities, learned societies and organisations have reviewed these pages. We thank these reviewers, and those who responded to a recent survey asking how we could improve this resource. The pages will be updated regularly, so please visit again and send us your feedback at research.animals@rspca.org.uk