Alternative Search Websites

Just Getting Started

A Guide to Searching for Alternatives to the Use of Laboratory Animals

This web page provides a great overview of how to conduct an alternatives search, including search terms, search strategies, and multiple links. A good place to start.

www.frame-uk.demon.co.uk/guide/index.htm

Tips for Searching for Alternatives to Animal Research and Testing

Guidelines written by the Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) which is a branch of the United Sates Department of Agriculture

http://nal.usda.gov/awic/alternatives/tips.html

Sample Literature Searches for Alternatives

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/alternatives/searches/sample.html

These examples are provided by the Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC). AWIC also provides low cost or no cost literature searches at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/alternatives/searches/searches.html

Animal Use Alternatives Thesaurus

http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/altrntvs/index.html

This site provides a list of search terms or synonyms for key words. For example, if you need to do an alternative search on "surgery", this web site will give you a list of other key words to utilize in your search. It also has a link to the National Agriculture Thesaurus

Data Bases

University of California Center for Animal Alternatives

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Animal_Alternatives/main.htm

This web site, run by the University of California Davis veterinary school, has multiple links to web based alternatives databases and is an excellent source for live animal alternatives in teaching veterinary medicine

The Norwegian Reference Centre for Laboratory Animal Science and Alternatives- NORINA (A Norwegian Inventory of Alternatives)

http://oslovet.veths.no/NORINA/

This European based web site has an excellent database and search engine for alternatives

European Resource Centre for Alternatives in Higher Education (EURCA)

http://www.eurca.org/

This European based web site is devoted to providing alternatives in classroom teaching. This website is an excellent source of live animal alternatives in teaching veterinary medicine.

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME)

http://www.frame.org.uk/ 

This United Kingdom based web site has excellent alternatives and databases.

Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC)

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/ 

This web site, run by the United States Department of Agriculture, is designed to provide both information and searchable databases for information on alternatives

Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (AltWeb)

This web site http://caat.jhsph.edu/ has information and one of the best alternatives search engine’s http://altweb.jhsph.edu/ 

Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW)

This web site, run by the non profit organization SCAW, is dedicated to improving the welfare of all animals, with multiple publications listed.

http://www.scaw.com/

Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) Enrichment and Refinement Database

This non-profit organization is based in the United Sates and publishes the book "Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals". The web site has information and a search engine entitled "Database on Refinement of Housing and Handling Conditions and Environmental Enrichment for Laboratory Animals"

http://www.awionline.org/index1.htm

Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)

This non-profit organization is based in the United Kingdom. The web site has information in the form of links and publications

http://ufaw.org.uk/index.htm

Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR)

This private organization has an excellent data base for identifying alternatives in teaching veterinary medicine.

http://www.avar.org/

Bibliography on Alternatives to Animal Testing (ALTBIB)

This web site, a consortium sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, has an excellent data base for identifying alternatives in biomedical research  

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/altbib.html

The ERGATT/FRAME/ECVAM Data Bank of in vitro Techniques in Toxicology (INVITTOX)

This web site has a search engine to identify in vitro alternatives to toxicity testing with a brief description of each test and links to full protocols 

http://embryo.ib.amwaw.edu.pl/invittox

Alternatives to Skin Irritation/Corrosion Testing in Animals (Invitroderm)

This web site, devoted to dermatologic testing, has a searchable database 

http://www.invitroderm.com/

Compilation of Literature on the Assessment of Animal Welfare and Animal Distress

This web site has references on pain, distress, and welfare.

http://www.vetinfo.demon.nl/aw/index.html

Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Evaluation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and its supporting center, National Toxicology Program Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicologic Methods (NICEATM)

This federal agency is part of NIEHS and is assigned the role of developing and evaluating alternative models in toxicology testing

http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov

European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM)

This is the European agency akin to ICCVAM.

http://ihcp.jrc.it/Organisation/VBTM-ECVAM/VBTM-ECVAMindex.html