One of the Central Authority for Scientific Procedures on Animals’ (CCD) key responsibilities is to determine whether project licence applications for animal procedures comply with applicable legislation. This assessment includes an ethical review, weighing the benefit of the research against the harm it causes. The ethical review considers whether the project’s objective and achievability justify the harm caused to the animals. All possible interests are taken into account, such as those of the laboratory animal, the target animal, patients, science, society, the economy and the environment.
Since the establishment of the CCD, a number of research proposals aimed at (intensive) livestock farming has been submitted. The Animal Ethics Committee (DEC) and/or the CCD quickly identified recurring dilemmas in this type of application. These particular research projects focused on dealing with negative side-effects of livestock farming, but made little or no contribution to eliminating the underlying causes of those effects. The CCD and DEC’s also faced a dilemma when reviewing project proposals focused on optimising the current production systems and making them more efficient. This was especially true for research in areas where the animal’s productive capacity had reached its natural limits or was in danger of being exceeded. Both dilemmas relate to the desire to make livestock farming more sustainable, a desire that is increasingly important to society as a whole.
On 18 December 2015, the CCD brought the aforementioned dilemmas to the attention of the then State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In response, the State Secretary requested the Council on Animal Affairs (RDA) on 8 June 2017 to draft an advisory report to help the DEC’s and CCD conduct their ethical review of project licence applications relating to livestock farming.