Consideraciones éticas en investigaciones experimentales con modelos animales Ethical considerations in experimental research involving animals

Background : the good care of laboratory animals is justified by both ethical and technical reasons in order to assure reliable and reproducible research. Objective: to show the ethical norms which govern the experimental research using animals and to expose difficulties found in Cuba and other countries in this regard. Method: a literature review of about 80 sources, published in English and Spanish, available in Internet was carried out, including norms, codes, papers, websites, blogs, books and newspapers. The gathered information was synthesized and analyzed to select the relevant referenced in the article. Results: ethical codes for biomedical research in humans force the preliminary research in animals as necessary. The concepts of the Five Freedoms and the Three R laid the base for the study and improvement of animal welfare in experimentation. Specific regulations are established in some countries but others just follow the general codes for animals' protection. In Cuba, National Center for Laboratory Animal Production for Research Purposes, reference guides to scientific centers of the country were published; were edited guidelines for all scientific centers to follow. Ethics Committees of Research are responsible for the approval and supervision of investigations. Ethical problems are reported when biomodels animals are used in Cuba and other countries.