The ZEBET-database on alternative methods to animal experiments in the Internet - a contribution to the protection of animals

Up from February 2000 ZEBET (German Centre for the Documentation and Valida tion of Alternative Methods) at the Federal Institute for Consumer Health P rotection and Veterinary Medicine (BgVV) put the ZEBET-database on alternat ive methods to animal experiments on the Internet in English via DIMDI, the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information (http://gripsdb .dimdi.de/engl/guieng.html). The access is free, moreover DIMDI's complete service is available to visitors of the ZEBET-database. The ZEBET database contains documents on alternatives to testing in animals, which have been c arefully evaluated by ZEBET's staff according to the "3Rs"-concept establis hed by Russel and Burch in 1959. Therefore, methods documented in the ZEBET database must meet at least one of the following criteria: "replacement" o f an animal experiment by a non-animal method, "reduction" of the number of animals used "refinement" of an experiment by minimising pain and sufferin g of animals. In addition, the ZEBET-database provides information on the c urrent stage of development and validation of a method and on the acceptanc e for either scientific or regulatory purposes. Each document is characteri sed by the following criteria: the title of a method, keywords, assessment, summary and bibliographic references. To search DIMDI's-database and host- system the grips software has to be used. Examples are given for searching in the ZEBET-database. Currently 125 alternative methods are meeting the cr iteria of the ZEBET database. 50 of them are available online on the intern et via DIMDI, the remaining 75 documents will be available by the end of th e year 2000. International fellow organisations, e.g. FRAME (Fund for the R eplacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) in the UK and CAAT (Johns Hop kins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing) in the USA, have establishe d links on their web sites to provide visitors free access to the ZEBET-dat abase.