{"id":4166,"date":"2026-02-25T08:25:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iph-multisite.berta-bewegt.ch\/?page_id=4166"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:25:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:25:50","slug":"tierversuche-in-der-schweiz","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.interpharma.ch\/en\/themen\/fuhrend-in-forschung-entwicklung\/forschung-mit-tieren\/tierversuche-in-der-schweiz\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal studies in Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The legislation governing animal welfare in Switzerland is\namong the strictest in the world. Animal studies may only be carried out if no\nalternatives are available. Strict rules apply to the husbandry of laboratory\nanimals and to the initial and further training of researchers who work with\nanimals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Switzerland, every animal study and every instance in\nwhich laboratory animals are kept must be approved by the competent cantonal\nveterinary office. The application for approval must state why an animal study\nis needed, what benefit the study offers and the extent to which a burden is\nplaced on the animals. The husbandry conditions for the laboratory animals must\nalso be described in the application. Species-appropriate husbandry conditions\nfor laboratory animals and continuous care provided by specialists are required\nby law. An animal welfare officer and the competent veterinary authority check\nregularly, and sometimes without warning, that the requirements for animal\nhusbandry are being observed in the approved projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a scientific standpoint, too, it is important for the\nanimals to be kept under species-appropriate conditions. Only studies carried\nout with animals that have been optimally cared for and treated and remain as\nstress-free as possible under experimental conditions provide reliable results.\nEvery institution that performs animal studies must report annually on the\nnumber of animals it has actually used, which species were used, the purpose of\nthe studies and the extent to which the animals were exposed to stress.\nResearchers in Switzerland are required to keep animal studies to a minimum and\nto use alternative methods instead of animal models whenever possible. The 3R\nprinciples are embedded in the corresponding legislation and must be observed\nin all projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-harm-benefit-analysis-as-the-starting-point\"><strong>Harm-benefit\nanalysis as the starting point<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Swiss animal welfare legislation requires a harm-benefit\nanalysis to be performed for every animal study. For this purpose, studies are\ndivided into four categories known as degrees of severity. The interests of all\nthe parties concerned are taken into account in a consideration of whether the\nexpected benefit of a study for society outweighs the stress on the animals and\nthe harm to their dignity. The benefit for society can vary greatly, e.g.\ndemonstration of the efficacy of new medicinal products, toxicity testing of a\nsubstance, new knowledge, better husbandry conditions for animals, etc. The\nbenefit is usually evident in applied research. In basic research, on the other\nhand, it is often difficult to identify a direct benefit. But it is ultimately\nonly possible to engage in applied research if this basis has been established.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legislation governing animal welfare in Switzerland is among the strictest in the world. Animal studies may only be carried out if no alternatives are available. Strict rules apply to the husbandry of laboratory animals and to the initial and further training of researchers who work with animals. In Switzerland, every animal study and every [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4282,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/unterthema.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4166","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Animal studies in Switzerland - Interpharma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interpharma.ch\/en\/themen\/fuhrend-in-forschung-entwicklung\/forschung-mit-tieren\/tierversuche-in-der-schweiz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Animal studies in Switzerland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The legislation governing animal welfare in Switzerland is among the strictest in the world. Animal studies may only be carried out if no alternatives are available. Strict rules apply to the husbandry of laboratory animals and to the initial and further training of researchers who work with animals. 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