Introducing Ethical Evaluation of the Use of Animals in Experiments in the Near East

Turkey and Iran are two Near East countries that are developing ethical regulation systems for animal experiments, following significant developments in this field in neighbouring Europe. In Turkey, legislation was passed between 2004 and 2006 to mandate ethical review of experiments which involve the use of laboratory animals. Today, one central and 73 local ethics committees exist, to evaluate the use of animals and the numbers of animals used, and to consider applications for animal experimentation. In Iran, Animal Ethics Committees (AECs) were established in 2004 in approximately 50 medical universities. The objective of the AECs is to preserve animal welfare and ethics, taking into account Islamic principles, and to be cognisant of world trends for the improvement of laboratory animal welfare. The recent establishment of animal ethical review in the Near East could benefit from experiences in Western countries, in their evolution toward high standards of experimental animal ethics.