Minimising pain in farm animals: the 3S approach - 'Suppress, Substitute, Soothe'

Guatteo, R.; Levionnois, Olivier; Fournier, D.; Guemene, D.; Latouche, K.; Leterrier, C.; Mormede, P.; Prunier, A.; Serviere, J.; Terlouw, C.; Le Neindre, P. (2012). Minimising pain in farm animals: the 3S approach - 'Suppress, Substitute, Soothe'. Cambridge University Press 10.1017/s1751731112000262

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Recently, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research appointed an expert committee to review the issue of pain in food-producing farm animals. To minimise pain, the authors developed a '3S' approach accounting for 'Suppress, Substitute and Soothe' by analogy with the '3Rs' approach of 'Reduction, Refinement and Replacement' applied in the context of animal experimentation. Thus, when addressing the matter of pain, the following steps and solutions could be assessed, in the light of their feasibility (technical constraints, logistics and regulations), acceptability (societal and financial aspects) and availability. The first solution is to suppress any source of pain that brings no obvious advantage to the animals or the producers, as well as sources of pain for which potential benefits are largely exceeded by the negative effects. For instance, tail docking of cattle has recently been eliminated. Genetic selection on the basis of resistance criteria (as e.g. for lameness in cattle and poultry) or reduction of undesirable traits (e.g. boar taint in pigs) may also reduce painful conditions or procedures. The second solution is to substitute a technique causing pain by another less-painful method. For example, if dehorning cattle is unavoidable, it is preferable to perform it at a very young age, cauterising the horn bud. Animal management and constraint systems should be designed to reduce the risk for injury and bruising. Lastly, in situations where pain is known to be present, because of animal management procedures such as dehorning or castration, or because of pathology, for example lameness, systemic or local pharmacological treatments should be used to soothe pain. These treatments should take into account the duration of pain, which, in the case of some management procedures or diseases, may persist for longer periods. The administration of pain medication may require the intervention of veterinarians, but exemptions exist where breeders are allowed to use local anaesthesia (e.g. castration and dehorning in Switzerland). Extension of such exemptions, national or European legislation on pain management, or the introduction of animal welfare codes by retailers into their meat products may help further developments. In addition, veterinarians and farmers should be given the necessary tools and information to take into account animal pain in their management decisions.

Item Type:

Other

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (DKV)

UniBE Contributor:

Levionnois, Olivier

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

1751-7311

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Language:

English

Submitter:

Regula Schatzmann

Date Deposited:

28 May 2014 11:52

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:34

Publisher DOI:

10.1017/s1751731112000262

PubMed ID:

23217230

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Animal Husbandry/ethics/ methods, Animal Welfare/ standards, Animals, Animals Domestic, Castration/methods, France, Male Pain/drug therapy, prevention & control, veterinary, Sus scrofa

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.53207

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/53207

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