CFN
The Swedish National Board for Laboratory Animals

The Swedish National Board for Laboratory Animals (CFN) was established in 1979. The CFN is a regulatory authority in the field of animal experiments. The CFN is responsible for the long-term planning of the use of laboratory animals and for ensuring that the resources available for laboratory animals are efficiently used. One of its main objectives is to reduce the need of laboratory animals by promoting the development of alternative methods to animal experiments. The CFN is also the authority responsible for the local ethical committees and their assessments of matters relating to the use of laboratory animals. In these and other matters the CFN collaborates with various authorities and interested parties. Some of the CFN activities are described below in greater detail.

Alternative methods

In order to reduce the need of laboratory animals the CFN has, in co-operation with the Swedish pharmaceutical companies Astra and Pharmacia & Upjohn, supported research on alternatives to animal models ever since 1980. It has supported projects in areas such as toxicology, pharmacology and cell biology. Basically, two different kinds of projects have been considered for financial support, i.e. projects which may be expected to result in a change from a method involving animals to an alternative method in a short time and projects relating to fundamental research that is likely to contribute to the development of new non-animal methods in the longer term. Another area that has attracted growing interest is the process of validation of alternative methods. This has so far resulted in support for two validation studies: MEIC (Multicenter Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity) and ECITTS (ERGATT/ CFN Integrated Toxicity Testing Scheme), which were both initiated in Sweden. The funded research projects are annually summarized in English in the CFN Series.

The local ethical committees

In Sweden, seven ethical committees, each located in one of the higher education planning regions, are responsible for ethical reviews of animal experiments. Each committee is chaired by a member of the legal profession and has twelve members, half of whom are scientists or staff who work with laboratory animals, and half are laymen. Some of these represent animal welfare organizations. With few exceptions all animal experiments are subject to prior ethical reviews. Not only the significance of the experiment, but also the suffering inflicted on the animal is taken into account. A committee must advise against an experiment if it is not considered of sufficient scientific significance or as being in the public interest, or if it is possible to obtain the relevant data by other methods.

Statistics on animal experiments

For several years Sweden has collected statistics on the number of animals used for experiments and other scientific purposes. Since 1990, the statistical reports comply with the conditions laid down in the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes. The main difference as compared with the reports before 1990 is that not only the number of animals used but also the purpose and nature of the experiments are reported. Nor are the statistics based on the voluntary submission of data, since it is now compulsory for all those who use animals for experiments to submit annual reports on the number and nature of experiments to the CFN. In addition to the requirements of the Convention, the CFN also collects statistics on the number of animals used in non-invasive behavioural studies and the amount of animals humanely killed for the production of tissue culture models. Furthermore, data are also collected on the number of animals in feeding trials and housing and handling experiments.

The CFN is also responsible for the dissemination of information on other matters regarding the use of laboratory animals. The CFN also issues recommendations to the ethical committees on the treatment of certain matters in relation to the ethical reviews and is, moreover, responsible for organising adequate education for the committee members.

For further information about the CFN, please contact the "CFN kansli".

Mailing address:

CFN
Ministry of Agriculture
S-103 33 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 402 28 10
Fax: +46 8 10 93 39
E-mail: registrator@cfn.se