iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

‼️ Now OPEN ACCESS 🐭 People often think that, if we keep replacing animal models with NAMs, eventually we'll use fewer animals. It's why many people endorse the 3Rs. But as I argue, we also constantly come up with new animal models. There's kind of a pipeline dynamic. And it can go on indefinitely.

link.springer.com

Lane-Petter’s Pipeline: Why reliably decreasing animal research takes more than replacements - European Journal for Philosophy of Science

Programs for the “three Rs” of “replace, reduce, refine” (Russell & Burch 1959) aim to make science more compatible with animal protection. This article draws attention to a major obstacle to that end...

174

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

link.springer.com

Lane-Petter’s Pipeline: Why reliably decreasing animal research takes more than replacements - European Journal for Philosophy of Science

174

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

📣📝 New OA paper out! 📣📝 From veggie burgers to organs-on-chip, we often think about harm reduction in terms of finding less harmful alternatives to current practices. I discuss #animalresearch to show that sometimes, we need something more, or different, than alternatives. doi.org/10.1007/s119...

Screenshot of the title "Harm reduction, alternatives, and the ethics of transition" by Nico Müller in the journal Science and Engineering Ethics.

132

Reposted by Nico Müller

Emily R. Trunnell, Ph.D. @ertrunnell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In a new paper, @nicodmueller.bsky.social argues that a core feature of modern #sciencepolicy stands in the way of reducing the use of animals in experimentation. Governments fund research and set ethical boundaries, but scientists largely decide which questions receive funding and attention.

142

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

132

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Today in "Journos Worrying About Anthropomorphization": Is pet insurance anthropomorphization? 💸 Yes, sure. Totally. It's not as if other animals had bodies, as if they could get sick or injured, or as if they sometimes needed medical attention that costs money. Only humans have those features. 🫠

140

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We all make typos, but accidentally name-dropping Huntingdon Life Sciences in an article about animal experimentation is a bit too on-the-nose. Other than that, The Lancet seems to have little new to say about the animal experimentation transition. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Screenshot from a Lancet article. The text reads: "…deeply disruptive to the health and wellbeing of the animal, for example inducing a condition like Huntingdon's disease. About 48 000 experimental…". The word "Huntingdon", a misspelling of "Huntington", is underlined in red.

130

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

🚨 New OA article 🚨 In which I argue that a gradual, controlled transition away from animal-reliant methods requires a break with laissez-faire science policy. #3Rs #animalexperimentation #animalresearch #animalethics doi.org/10.1017/pls....

Screenshot of title and abstract of Nico Müller's new article entitled "No transition without participation: Why moving beyond animal studies requires public input into the research agenda"

The abstract reads: "In many countries, a large portion of animal studies serve publicly funded research purposes, yet a transition beyond animal research is politically desired. This article argues that a gradual transition is obstructed by three commitments of traditional science policy: (1) the state should provide resources for research; (2) it should leave the direction of research to the scientific community; and (3) it should set side constraints for research. This framework severely restricts public influence on the amount and kind of animal research conducted with public funds. The public can allocate some extra resources to the innovation of alternatives to animal models or tighten legal side constraints, but neither approach is likely to significantly decrease
reliance on animal research overall. A gradual transition away from publicly funded animal research toward new approaches is feasible only if the second commitment is reconsidered, allowing the public greater
influence over the research agenda."

132

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

132

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

For anyone who missed our digital workshop earlier this year, here's a brief summary! Coorganised with Love Hansell and @simonlohse.bsky.social 🙌 #animalexperimentation #animalresearch #3Rs doi.org/10.14573/alt...

Screenshot of an article title: "Meeting Report: Understanding Challenges and Opportunities for the Transition Beyond Animal Experimentation in Research and Safety Testing: What's New? What's Next?" by Nico Müller, Love Hansell, and Simon Lohse.

043

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

"This article argues that the law’s ignorance of the harm of killing leads to its trivialization in practice and, consequently, undermines the ethical legitimacy of deadly animal research projects." #animalresearch #3rs #animalethics doi.org/10.1007/s11019-026-10382-y

Screenshot of the abstract of the article "How ignoring the harm of killing undermines the ethical legitimacy of animal research: a case study from Switzerland" by Christian Rodriguez, Charlotte Blattner, and Angela Martin. The abstract reads:

The most established approach to legitimizing animal research worldwide is through Harm-Benefit Analyses (HBAs), which require that the expected benefits of research be compared to and outweigh the harms done to animals. For this process to be ethically sound, all relevant harms must be considered. However, HBAs leave one fundamental harm insufficiently considered: killing, i.e., the deliberate termination of animals’ lives as part of the research project. This article argues that the law’s ignorance of the harm of killing leads to its trivialization in practice and, consequently, undermines the ethical legitimacy of deadly animal research projects. While our argument applies broadly, we use Switzerland as an illustrative case example. We first disentangle, from an ethical standpoint, the harms that killings inflict on animals in research. Second, we show that most harms of killing, both to the inherent worth and wellbeing of animals, are not accounted for in law, allowing killings to be trivialized. Third, we propose that killing should always (a) be subject to ethical and legal scrutiny by animal research commissions, (b) have to pass the necessity test (i.e., killing should be permitted if, and only if, it is necessary to achieve the purpose of the experiment), and (c) be included in HBAs. Fourth, we consider common objections to our arguments, and, in concluding, show why recognizing the harm of killing is essential to upholding the ethical legitimacy of animal research.

162

Reposted by Nico Müller

Matt Perry @mattwperry.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Very happy to announce that our article "Animals and Human Rights" is now out in Philosophy Compass. It was wonderful working on this with my friend and colleague Dr. Valérie G. Topf! Check it out here: compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Display of the abstract for the paper which reads "This article argues that human rights theory faces pressure from scholarship on animals. Because grounding human rights in
bare species membership seems implausible, most theories ground such rights in species neutral criteria. These criteria may be
naturalistic (based on sentience or autonomy, for example) or functionalist (based on the socio‐political role of rights). Standard
theories of human rights have not adequately addressed that many animals appear to meet these criteria, as we show that they
do across a range of arguments. However, consistency demands that if a being meets the criteria a theory stipulates for the
possession of human rights, they should be recognised as possessing such rights. This leaves human rights theory with three
options: it must either explain why these criteria are not met by animals after all, offer alternate criteria—or recognise many
animals as bearers of ‘human’ rights"

1195

Reposted by Nico Müller

Kim Stallwood @kimstallwood.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

A BIG shout out to the Tier im Recht Library Newsletter edited by Moena Zeller, TIR Librarian and Federally Certified Bookbinder. The TIR Library Newsletter is a MUST-read. To subscribe, please email Moena at zeller@tierimrecht.org. Or visit www.tierimrecht.org/de/ueber-uns...

tierimrecht.org

Newsletter TIR-Bibliothek - Stiftung für das Tier im Recht (TIR)

Der Newsletter zur TIR-Bibliothek informiert über aktuelle Neuzugänge und gibt Lesetipps.

021

Reposted by Nico Müller

Marta Tafalla @tafallamarta.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Nuevo número de la revista Animal Ethics Review: raco.cat/index.php/AE...

034

Reposted by Nico Müller

Emily R. Trunnell, Ph.D. @ertrunnell.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Replacement changes what tools are available. Displacement changes how science is done. @nicodmueller.bsky.social's revisit of “Lane‑Petter’s Pipeline” provides the wider lens we need to modernize and humanize biomedical research. 🧵 #bioethics #paradigmchange #scipol #metasci #philsci

157

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The "journos worrying about anthropomorphization" saga continues. Just gave a short phone interview to 🇨🇭 public radio about the whale stranded in 🇩🇪. Like clockwork, the first substantive question was: do people anthropomorphize the whale? I tried another answer this time.

151

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

🚨 New paper by myself and @tristankatz.bsky.social 🚨 "Harm-Benefit Analysis for Animal Experiments Is Not Utilitarian" It's commonly claimed that HBA – used in the licensing of animal studies – is utilitarian. We say this vastly oversells the framework. #animalexperimentation #animalresearch #3Rs

Screenshot of title and abstract for "Harm-Benefit Analysis for Animal Experiments Is Not Utilitarian". The abstract reads:

The claim is commonplace that harm-benefit analysis (HBA), a weighing procedure widely used in ethics reviews of animal experiments, is utilitarian. We argue this is false and misleading for three reasons: (1) HBA does not compare, let alone maximize, utility across different options, but merely assesses whether the consequences of one option are net-positive, thereby ignoring opportunity costs; (2) HBA does not aggregate utility coherently, as it allows for varying degrees of speculation in the assessment of harms and benefits; (3) HBA is not concerned with moral evaluation or moral goodness. From our discussion, we derive positive suggestions for how to improve animal experimentation policy and public communications about it. Most straightforwardly, scholars and institutions should stop claiming that HBA is “utilitarian.”

2106

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

2106

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Last chance to register! Really looking forward to this workshop on Thursday/Friday this week. 🐭📉🧫

032

Reposted by Nico Müller

Simon Lohse @simonlohse.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

📣 Upcoming Online Workshop, 19–20 March 2026 *Understanding Challenges and Opportunities for the Transition Beyond #AnimalExperimentation in Research and Safety Testing: What‘s New? What‘s Next?* Register by 17 March: tinyurl.com/nam-workshop #NAM #animalethics #philsci #animalstudies #STS

Workshop poster with an image of a hand holding an organ-on-a-chip.

(Title) Understanding Challenges and Opportunities
for the Transition Beyond Animal Experimentation
in Research and Safety Testing: What‘s New? What‘s Next?

Animal use in science and safety testing persists at high levels – despite decades of advocacy and innovation in alternatives.

Apart from technical challenges, this also raises urgent philosophical, ethical, legal, and social-scientific issues.

This two-day online workshop focuses on new perspectives that can help to understand the intersection of scientific and human obstacles
that slow down transition.

Join the discussions to broaden your perspective on the animal experimentation transition and help to explore pathways to a
future of innovative, responsible science.

Organised by Love Hansell, Radboud U; Simon Lohse, Radboud U; Nico D. Müller, U of Basel

Online, 19–20 March 2026
13:30–17:00 CET each day

Register by 17 March: tinyurl.com/nam-workshop

1106

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

🚨 New paper out today 🚨 The message is simple: As we replace some animal experiments with alternatives, new animal experiments are also being innovated. If our policy goal is inflicting less harm on animals in science, replacement won’t be enough. We also need a shift in model innovation. 🐭📉

rdcu.be

Lane-Petter’s Pipeline: Why reliably decreasing animal research takes more than replacements

183

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

rdcu.be

Lane-Petter’s Pipeline: Why reliably decreasing animal research takes more than replacements

183

Reposted by Nico Müller

Pablo Magaña @pmagana94.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... In a new paper in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Eze Paez and I introduce “sentientist political liberalism,” an attempt to reconcile the ideas of society as a system of cooperation and public justification with taking animals seriously.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Sentientist Political Liberalism

This paper introduces sentientist political liberalism. Elaborating on the fundamental ideas in John Rawls's political liberalism, we propose that the scheme of fair social cooperation among persons ...

0155

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Had a good time at yesterday's Swiss Animal Protection meeting! 👍 I talked about why I think phase-out planning for animal experimentation is a good idea, if it's done well. 🐭📉 It was also great to meet Love Hansell again. Check out his work, if you haven't yet: doi.org/10.25453/pla...

Nico Müller talking on stage, behind a big banner saying "Schweizer Tierschutz STS," meaning "Swiss Animal Protection SPA."

Nico Müller (left) and Love Hansell (right) smiling and giving a thumbs up

050

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

📣❗New article out now! rdcu.be/eSSNa I explain how to do "nonideal animal research ethics" – it involves spelling out ethical goals first, then mapping ethical pathways to get there. I think we should do this more often because…

Screenshot of the article "How to Give Ethical Input on Animal Research Transitions: Ideal and Nonideal Theory" by Nico Müller, out now in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics!

2112

Reposted by Nico Müller

Josh Milburn @joshmilburn.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I speak to Doris Schneeberger about her 2024 Palgrave book Envisioning a Better Future for Nonhuman Animals: Towards Future Animal Rights Declarations. The episode is available free below or in all the usual places. knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-243-...

1115

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

🥳 I'll post the paper when it's out!

Email screenshot saying: "Dear Dr. Müller,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript, "How to give ethical input on animal research transitions: Ideal and nonideal theory", has been accepted for publication in Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics."

1130

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

It's pretty encouraging to read this in Nature! 🐭📉 I'd just add that (a) NAMs shouldn't be reduced to mere "alternatives" to animal models (just like chickpeas aren't just meat replacements); (b) bottom-up acceptance of NAMs is part of the solution, but some top-down strategy is needed too.

nature.com

Alternatives to animal testing are the future — it’s time that journals, funders and scientists embrace them

Biomedical research techniques that don’t involve the use of animals are gaining momentum, but those using innovative approaches still face resistance from some quarters.

050

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Surprising no one, the 🇨🇭 Federal Council today recommended rejecting yet another popular initiative aiming to ban #AnimalExperimentation. 🐭🧪❌ In my view, these initiatives foster the wrong kind of discussion – a crude Pro vs Con. What we need is a debate about the How of moving forward.

news.admin.ch

Le Conseil fédéral recommande de rejeter l’initiative populaire fédérale «Oui à un avenir sans expérimentation animale»

110

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Animals constantly give off information – what if there was a disease that forced humans to listen and understand? People would love it, if this book has it right. And society might collapse. A really, really fun read! #BookSky #AnimalRights

An image of the book "The animals in that country" by Laura Jean McKay

2102

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

📉🐭 New numbers out today: 🇨🇭 reports the lowest annual use of animals in #AnimalExperimentation since records began in 1983. A fortunate development for sure, but there's no guarantee it'll continue. Thoughts in 🧵

A chart showing the numbers of animals used in experiments in Switzerland from 2015 to 2024. The numbers wax and wane between about 650'000 and 500'000. Last year's number is the lowest ever on record with 522'636 animals used.

183

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

183

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

A missed opportunity: The 🇨🇭 Council of States just voted *not* to pursue a parliamentary initiative for a phase-out plan for animal experiments. This means the bill is off the table. But there's always next time…! 🐭📉

An image of a screen in the Swiss Council of States showing how members voted. A clear majority voted not to pursue the parliamentary initiative for a phase-out plan for animal experimentation further.

121

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Having a great time at the European Animal Rights Law Conference – that's me there in the picture! 😎 I talked about phase-out planning for research that harms animals: Why it's not just the #3Rs, why it's different from a ban, and how politically promising the demand is. Great discussion too!

241

Reposted by Nico Müller

Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 08/08/2025

My paper ‘Animal Rights, Moral Motivation, and the Experience of Wonder’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... has just been published at @the-joap.bsky.social In it, I argue for fostering a sense of wonder at individual nonhuman animals, & for making this the basis of a reverence-based respect.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Animal Rights, Moral Motivation, and the Experience of Wonder

Despite being strong, arguments for animal rights often fail to motivate. One reason for this is that rights are associated with concepts, such as respect, that are difficult to apply to nonhuman ani...

67120

Reposted by Nico Müller

International Centre for Animal Rights and Ethics @icareanimals.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

📚 Bibliography Recommendation 🦉 Today, we're recommending an essential reading for anyone working on animal ethics or advocacy: "From Here to Utopia: Theories of Change in Nonideal Animal Ethics" by Nico Dario Müller. 🐾🌱

232

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

🚨 NEW OA ARTICLE 🚨 In many countries, animal experimentation overall isn't decreasing or becoming less severe. Some argue that overall numbers are misleading – that they don't tell us anything about whether we're making progress in alternatives. I argue this is isn't totally wrong, just mostly.

cambridge.org

Why (and how) total numbers should matter for animal experimentation policy | Politics and the Life Sciences | Cambridge Core

Why (and how) total numbers should matter for animal experimentation policy

153

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

cambridge.org

Why (and how) total numbers should matter for animal experimentation policy | Politics and the Life Sciences | Cambridge Core

Why (and how) total numbers should matter for animal experimentation policy

153

Reposted by Nico Müller

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

This week, a 🇨🇭 parliament commission debated whether the country should develop a phase-out strategy for experiments that harm animals. They said no – and rather bizarrely wrote they don't want a "phase-out plan for 3Rs research." Make it make sense… 🤷‍♂️ www.parlament.ch/press-releas...

Screenshot from the press release linked in the post. The highlighted portion reads "Pas de plan d'abandon pour la recherche 3R", meaning "No phase-out plan for 3Rs research".

111

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

111

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Was at the Federal Palace again this morning to give a short presentation about phase-out planning for animal experimentation. Glad to have been heard! 💪

020

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Just found this intriguing book on #Yoga and #AnimalEthics that's completely free to read. There's a surprising amount of Kant in there, including a reference to my book. I'll have to read this more closely! #PhilSky

link.springer.com

Yoga and Animal Ethics

This open access book enhances understanding about how yoga contributes to animal ethics discourse and practice.

060

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Great signal placement: "Politics course for researchers" and "dead end" 😅

Photo of a narrow street with a big dead end sign and, below it, a sign reading "Politics Course for Researchers"

170

Nico Müller @nicodmueller.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

No thanks, Springer, I don't want to buy reprints of articles I wrote. 🙄 And please stop emailing me about it while I'm waiting for peer review decisions. #AcademicSky

190