Our approach to animal testing

The Shell Group takes the issue of animal testing very seriously and has developed a Group Standard to reflect this. We recognise the dilemma society faces about tests of this kind and would prefer not to use animals for safety testing. However, we have to balance this with ensuring that our products are safe for people to use. Products manufactured by Shell include substances that appear in many consumer applications.

A very small proportion of tests involving animals are commissioned by the oil and petrochemical industries.

Shell companies never commission animal testing where there are other reliable means of establishing the safety of products. We are committed to best practice in terms of applying and promoting the principles of reduction, refinement and replacement - the 3Rs: The principles of the 3Rs were first set out by the academics Russell and Burch in their 1959 book ‘The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique’. These principles are:

To reduce the number of animals used in a specific test or a testing programme to a minimum without compromising either scientific integrity or regulatory acceptance.
To refine procedures to ensure that the welfare of animals is fully taken into account.
To replace tests which use animals by using alternative, non-animal methods where these have been validated.

We strive to apply and promote the 3 Rs in our internal procedures and testing programmes, in our work with industry partners and regulators and provide support for research into the development and validation of alternative testing methods.

We minimise the number of animals used as far as we can without compromising safety, collaborate with other companies whenever possible and share our research results to prevent unnecessary duplication.

Shell fully supports efforts to reduce the number of animals used in product safety testing, to refine test methods to make them as humane as possible and to replace animal tests with alternative methods where possible. This is why we support the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME) in the UK and the Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) in the USA.

We share the hope of many that scientific and technological advances may eventually enable society to find alternatives to tests using animals to assure the safety of products. Unfortunately, this day is a long way off. Government safety standards and our own duty of care to our staff and customers, means that today some tests using animals remain essential to assess the health, safety and environmental impact of our products, intermediates and raw materials.

Our approach to animal testing

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