Bioethical principles applied to aquatic ecotoxicological studies

Abstract

Aquatic eco-toxicology analyzes the adverse effects of chemical pollutants in the biota.  The aim of this study was to analyze the adequacy of the laboratory trials with aquatic organisms, based on the principles of the 3Rs. Twenty articles on aquatic eco-toxicology published from 2010 to 2014 were reviewed. The numbers of animals utilized in eco-toxicological trials, acclimatization, research approved by the committee on ethics and utilization of anesthetics were verified. The findings indicate that the principles of refinement and replacement, of the 3Rs program, were the most encountered in the research; while most did not cite approval of experimental protocols by an ethics committee, nor the use of anesthetics on the organisms during the experiments. The research published indicates a need to reduce the number of in the bio-trials, and to apply principles of bioethics in experimentation with aquatic organisms.