Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum

Versteegen, Rosemary

doi:10.14573/altex.2101271

Cited by 4 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…Another claim made by Versteegen et al (2021) is that fetuses are neither capable of perceiving pain while still in utero nor are they alive during blood collection, consequently denying any need for a certified killing method or even anesthesia before cardiac puncture of the fetus. However, the case is not as clear as presented.…”

Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the meeting report on our 2020 online symposium "Replacing Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) in Research and Testing", we invited the serum-producing industry to discuss and find a common solution for the animal welfare issues and the development of animal-friendly medium supplements (Weber and Wagner, 2021). We therefore welcome the Comment of Versteegen et al (2021) and would like to respond and help to further clarify common misconceptions on FBS. Versteegen et al (2021) begin with a claim that it is a "moral obligation to not only consider the welfare of animals within the food chain but also to maximize the potential of these animals".…”

Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We therefore welcome the Comment of Versteegen et al (2021) and would like to respond and help to further clarify common misconceptions on FBS. Versteegen et al (2021) begin with a claim that it is a "moral obligation to not only consider the welfare of animals within the food chain but also to maximize the potential of these animals". We disagree, as it should be a moral obligation to maximize the welfare of the animals that are used for human purposes, but not their exploitable potential.…”

Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…On this matter, the statement of Versteegen et al (2021) that not all countries have regulations in place that restrict transport and slaughter of pregnant animals strongly suggests that it is very likely that transportation of pregnant cattle happens far more often worldwide, since the overall majority of FBS is produced outside of Europe (93.5%, according to an estimation by ISIA) 7 .…”

Section: Reply To Comment "Animal Welfare and Ethics In The Collection Of Fetal Blood For The Production Of Fetal Bovine Serum"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a common misconception that the slaughter process is a "highly regulated area", as Versteegen et al (2021) put it. Especially, extraction of fetal blood is far from being regulated or even transparent.…”

Section: Fetal Blood Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reply to comment “Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum”

Weber¹

2021

ALTEX

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Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Animal Sentiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reply To Comment "Animal Welfare and Ethics In The Collection Of Fetal Blood For The Production Of Fetal Bovine Serum"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fetal Blood Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reply to comment “Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum”

Weber¹

2021

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Addressing Animal Welfare Issues in Fetal Blood Collection for Fetal Bovine Serum Production

McCann¹,

Treasure

2022

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There is ethical debate over whether fetal calves suffer when their dam is slaughtered and fetal blood extracted by cardiac puncture for fetal bovine serum (FBS) production. Yet, the serum industry does not follow best practice, as recommended by the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA), to avoid fetal distress. We discuss the key elements of this debate, and recommend how the serum industry can alter its practices to improve animal welfare.

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Case Studies Exemplifying the Transition to Animal Component-free Cell Culture

Weber¹,

Wiest²,

Oredsson

2022

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Cell culture techniques are strongly connected with modern scientific laboratories and production facilities. Thus, choosing the most suitable medium for the cells involved is vital, not only directly to optimise cell viability but also indirectly to maximise the reliability of the experiments performed with the cells. Fetal bovine or calf serum (FBS or FCS, respectively) is the most commonly used cell culture medium supplement, providing various nutritional factors and macromolecules essential for cell growth. Yet, the use of FBS encompasses a number of disadvantages. Scientifically, one of the most severe disadvantages is the lot-to-lot variability of animal sera that hampers reproducibility. Therefore, transitioning from the use of these ill-defined, component-variable, inconsistent, xenogenic, ethically questionable and even potentially infectious media supplements, is key to achieving better data reproducibility and thus better science. To demonstrate that the transition to animal component-free cell culture is possible and achievable, we highlight three different scenarios and provide some case studies of each, namely: i) the adaptation of single cell lines to animal component-free culture conditions by the replacement of FBS and trypsin; ii) the adaptation of multicellular models to FBS-free conditions; and (iii) the replacement of FBS with human platelet lysate (hPL) for the generation of primary stem/stromal cell cultures for clinical purposes. By highlighting these examples, we aim to foster and support the global movement towards more consistent science and provide evidence that it is indeed possible to step out of the currently smouldering scientific reproducibility crisis.

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Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

Reply to comment “Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum”

Reply to comment “Animal welfare and ethics in the collection of fetal blood for the production of fetal bovine serum”

Addressing Animal Welfare Issues in Fetal Blood Collection for Fetal Bovine Serum Production

Case Studies Exemplifying the Transition to Animal Component-free Cell Culture

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