# Toward Transparency on Animal Experimentation in Switzerland: Seven Recommendations for the Provision of Public Information in Swiss Law

## TL;DR

This paper recommends updating Swiss law to increase transparency about animal experimentation by disclosing more detailed public information.

## Contribution

The paper proposes seven specific legal recommendations to improve transparency in Swiss animal experimentation reporting.

## Key findings

- Current Swiss law lacks information on breeding/surplus animals and their fate.
- Public transparency is hindered by missing data on funding and harm-benefit analyses.
- Updating legal requirements could fulfill the government’s duty to inform the public.

## Abstract

Simple Summary: In Switzerland, the importance of transparency in animal experimentation is emphasized by the Swiss Federal Council, in recognition of the public’s great interest in this matter. Current Swiss law requires institutions and the government to inform the public about various aspects, such as the number of animals used in experiments, their species, or the severity of harm of the experiment. However, much relevant information is missing, such as the number of breeding or surplus animals, the fate of the animals (both in facilities and after an experiment), and how the balancing of animal harm and human benefits has been performed to justify a particular experiment. Considering that the Swiss government has a duty to provide information on animal experimentation conducted on the public’s behalf, such information should be disclosed. If Switzerland is to move toward more transparency in public information on animal experimentation, an update of the legal requirements is needed. In this article, we give recommendations for Swiss law to move toward more transparency in public information.

In Switzerland, the importance of transparency in animal experimentation is emphasized by the Swiss Federal Council, recognizing the public’s great interest in this matter. Federal reporting on animal experimentation indicates a total of 585,991 animals used in experiments in Switzerland in 2022. By Swiss law, the report enables the public to learn about many aspects such as the species and degree of suffering experienced by the animals, but some information of interest to the public is missing, such as the fate of the animals at the end of the experiment (e.g., euthanized, rehomed in a private home, reused in another experiment). When it comes to animals bred in facilities but not used in experiments, further information of interest is not required to be made public according to Swiss law, for example, the number and fate of “surplus” animals (i.e., animals bred but not used in experiments for a variety of reasons such as not carrying the phenotypical properties needed). Considering that the Swiss government has a duty to provide a full accounting of animal experimentation conducted on the public’s behalf, further relevant information should be disclosed. While efforts toward transparency, such as the STAAR Agreement, have been made in the scientific community, these mostly reflect the legal requirements already in force. If Switzerland is to move toward more transparency in public information on animal experimentation, an update of the legal requirements is needed. In this article, we give recommendations for Swiss law to move toward more transparency in public information on seven aspects: (1) the fate of the animals at the end of the experiment; (2) the sources of funding for animal experimentation; (3) the harm-benefit analysis performed by researchers and ethics committees to justify an experiment using animals; (4) the number of breeding/surplus animals; (5) the fate of breeding/surplus animals; (6) the harms experienced by animals in facilities; and (7) the funding of animal facilities.