Grundlagenforschung
Modern medicine is based on discoveries of basic biological research and their implementation in applied research. The initial signatories to the Basel Declaration see the tendency to restrict animal experiments, especially in the field of basic research, as a major risk. And they maintain that no stage of research (neither basic nor applied research) must be categorically excluded from those purposes of animal experiments that are deemed permissible. Apart from the difficulty of differentiating the two stages in the field of medical research, applied research is generally inconceivable without basic research. Basic research is not an end in itself, but serves as the basis for further consideration. Basic and applied research is all part of the same continuum in biomedical research and the assignment of a research project to one part or the other is often rather arbitrary. On the other hand, the categorization of an experiment as basic research does not yet justify the use of animals per se. The demonstration that an animal experiment is indispensable is just as necessary as a weighing the interests of animal welfare against the benefits according to the research objective.