The use of fetal bovine serum: ethical or scientific problem?
Abstract
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a common component of animal cell culture media. It is harvested from bovine fetuses taken from pregnant cows during slaughter. FBS is commonly harvested by means of a cardiac puncture without any form of anaesthesia. Fetuses are probably exposed to pain and/or discomfort, so the current practice of fetal blood harvesting is inhumane. Apart from moral concerns, several scientific and technical problems exist with regard to the use of FBS in cell culture. Efforts should be made to reduce the use of FBS or, preferably, to replace it with synthetic alternatives.
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The worldwide annual production of FBS is about 600,000 to 800,000 L collected from around 1 to 2 million fetuses.
“Rigorous examination of the global use of FBS has shown that the worldwide annual production of FBS is about 600,000 to 800,000 L collected from around 1 to 2 million fetuses [15, 16].”
From A worldwide survey on the use of animal‐derived materials and reagents in scientific experimentation (2022) · cites this paper as [16]
Cites
Lagercrantz, H., & Slotkin, T. A. (1986) · Scientific American · doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0486-100 · Cited by 448 · cited 1× · see citing works
“longer, compared to adults of the same species ( 12-31 ).”
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Coecke, S., Balls, M., Bowe, G., Davis, J., Gstraunthaler, G., Hartung, T., Hay, R., Merten, O.-W., Price, A., Schechtman, L., et al. (2005) · Alternatives to Laboratory Animals · doi:10.1177/026119290503300313 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Guidance Document on Good In Vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP)
OECD (2018) · OECD Series on Testing and Assessment · doi:10.1787/9789264304796-en · Cited by 161 · see citing works
A worldwide survey on the use of animal‐derived materials and reagents in scientific experimentation
Cassotta, M., Bartnicka, J. J., Pistollato, F., Parvatam, S., Weber, T., D'Alessandro, V., Bastos, L. F., & Coecke, S. (2022) · Engineering in Life Sciences · doi:10.1002/elsc.202100167 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Increasing the biomolecular relevance of cell culture practice
Ghebosu, R. E., Hui, L., & Wolfram, J. (2025) · Journal of Biomedical Science · doi:10.1186/s12929-024-01095-6 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jochems, C. E. A., van der Valk, J. B. F., Stafleu, F. R., & Baumans, V.
- Affiliations
- Department of Laboratory Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80166, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department of Animals and Society, Netherlands Centre Alternatives to Animal Use (NCA), Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Center for Bio-Ethics and Health Justice, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Venue
- Alternatives to Laboratory Animals
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-03
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 219-227
- ISSN
- 0261-1929
- 2632-3559
- Cited by
- 244
- References
- 1
- Language
- en
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