Bf3R Committee
First convened in 2017, the Bf3R Committee advises the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) in its scientific tasks. The goal of the work of Bf3R is to restrict tests with animals to the absolutely essential minimum and guarantee laboratory animals the best possible protection.
Bf3R was founded in 2015 and is an integral part of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. The Centre for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments (ZEBET) was integrated into Bf3R. Bf3R conducts its own research. Because of this realignment, the Bf3R Committee was newly appointed as the successor to the ZEBET Committee.
Duties of the Bf3R Committee
The experts on the committee have the task of providing Bf3R with expert professional advice on its scientific activities. The results of the committee’s consultancy work are directed at the BfR and have a purely advisory nature. They are intended to support the BfR in the pursuit of its goals.
Members of the Bf3R Committee
The members of the Bf3R Committee are appointed on the basis of their special expertise and not because they belong to a certain institution. A BfR-internal appointments committee consisting of five scientific employees makes a selection and ranking of applicants purely on the basis of their qualifications and professional experience. There then follows further scrutiny by two independent, external specialists.
The Bf3R Committee is made up of scientists who are appointed as experts in one of the five areas of competence of Bf3R:
- Centre for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments (ZEBET)
- Reduction of severity and improvement of animal welfare
- Alternative methods in toxicology
- National Committee for the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific Purposes
- Coordination of research on alternative methods
