December 2003 News

Lab Animal Welfare Award Goes to NORINA

December 29, 2003

The Norwegian Reference Center for Laboratory Animal Science and Alternativeshas been awarded the 2003 GlaxoSmithKline Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize.

The GlaxoSmithKline Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize is the largest laboratory animal welfare prize in Europe. It is awarded annually by the RDS to an individual or group working in Europe for "contributions to improvements in the welfare of animals in laboratory procedures or recommendations or techniques which reduce the number of animals required for laboratory procedures."

The Norwegian Reference Center (http://oslovet.veths.no) was selected for its efforts in providing high-quality information about laboratory animal welfare and about alternative methods. It is perhaps best known for its NORINA database of alternatives to the use of animals in education and training (see http://oslovet.veths.no/NORINA). This English-language database includessome 3,700 alternatives or supplements to the use of animals in education, at all levels of schooling. The Center also developed and maintains TextBase, a database of textbooks in lab animal science (see http://oslovet.veths.no/textbase).

In addition, the Center has made significant contributions to international projects on alternatives and the development of best practice, including Altweb, the Alternatives to Animal Testing Web. It also is actively involved in providing training and training resources within Scandinavia.

The prize was presented to Professor Adrian Smith, founder and leader of the Center, at the annual meeting of RDS London in November.

For details and previous winners, see the RDS web site.