SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS WITH ANIMALS

NORMATIVE AND ETHICS LIMITS

Abstract

The article proposes critical analysis of experiments and tests with animals based on Brazilian normative framework identification. The development of the analysis articulates the currents of Animal Welfare and Animal Law in order to achieve evaluation criteria for framing Brazilian legislation. The Brazilian regulatory framework admits scientific experiments with animals however, it establishes criteria and evaluative filters for conformity analysis. Conformity assessment implies a necessary and constant motivation for the justification of the experiments, in addition to compatibility with the Theory of the Three R's, which is accepted by the national legal system. This evaluation focuses not only on the enterprises and activities, but also on the legal norms themselves. Thus, the norms that allow the use of animals in scientific experiments need to overcome a constant burden of justification, otherwise they lose their normative force. Based on the critical propositional method, the article concludes by applying the principles of precaution and prevention, together with the polluter-pays principle and the principle of progressivity as references for measuring the legitimacy of animal experiments.