According to the Animal Welfare Act, animal experiments are "interventions or treatments on animals for experimental purposes if they may be associated with pain, suffering or harm to these animals". This includes experiments on animals in the context of basic scientific research, the legally prescribed toxicity and safety tests of drugs and chemicals, etc., but also interventions on animals in the context of education, training and further education.

The Ethics Committee of Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences is not authorised to decide on animal experimentation projects.

Animal experiments are generally subject to authorisation. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the State Office for Agriculture, Food Safety and Fisheries (LALLF MV) in Rostock is the responsible authorisation authority.

The e-mail address is: tierversuchswesenlallf.mvnetde

In accordance with Section 15 of the Animal Welfare Act, the licensing authority is supported by an independent, advisory commission (animal testing commission) when processing applications. At least one third of this commission is made up of members appointed on the recommendation of animal welfare organisations. Expert veterinarians, doctors and scientists, for example, are also members of animal testing commissions. An animal testing commission has been set up for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which advises the LALLF MV.

Some scientific studies on and with animals do not count as animal experiments. This is particularly the case if the animal cannot normally be subjected to pain, suffering or harm, such as in the case of

-the collection of hair samples with clippers

animal-assisted intervention (use of animals in social fields of activity)

-the labelling of wild animals for identification purposes

If such activities are carried out as part of a research project, the authorising authority should nevertheless be asked whether it is an animal experiment. The LALLF then assigns a file number, which is often required for publications.

Prof Dr Ebert(eberths-nbde) is the contact person for questions regarding animal experiments at the Ethics Committee of Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences.