A parliamentary committee has recommended "rapidly phasing out" two experiments performed on mice for medical research purposes in New South Wales.
The "forced swim test" involves placing a mouse in water deep enough to compel it to swim, and observing it until it stops struggling.
In the "smoking tower test", mice are restrained in a small chamber and exposed to cigarette smoke or other hazardous inhalants in order to induce disease.
The inquiry into the use of primates and other animals in medical research was established in December last year, after three baboons escaped from a truck at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
It received more than 350 written submissions and heard from more than 40 witnesses over three days of hearings in June.
"This is a very secretive industry and we heard absolutely shocking evidence," said the committee's Deputy Chair and Animal Justice Party MLC Emma Hurst.
Lisa Craig, an experienced animal research carer who has worked at four facilities in Australia, told the inquiry the smoking tests raised some of the "most horrific welfare issues" she had seen throughout her career.
"[The mice] are left two days a week in withdrawal. The particular model leaves animals hypothermic, wet and in significant distress between cigarettes," she said.
"Generally those animals are smoked twice a day... In many instances, I have seen those animals culled en masse."
In a report tabled on Friday, the committee found there was "compelling evidence" that the harm to animals occasioned by the tests was greater than the human health benefits gained and described them as "particularly harmful".
Until recently, the University of Newcastle (UON) was one of the few institutions permitting the inhalation test.
Appearing before the inquiry in June, the Chair of its Animal Care and Ethics Committee, Christopher McCarthy, defended the practice.
"I believe every member of my committee would stand here and say that we believe that the animal welfare and the translational ability would be justified in this experiment," he told the inquiry.
But the next month, The UON decommissioned the instrument used to perform the test.
"It is no longer operational," Mr McCarthy confirmed.
CEO of Humane Research Australia, Rachel Smith, welcomed the recommendation to phase out both tests.
"I really hope that other states take this same position, and those who are funding this research also consider taking this position on both these tests," she said.
"We can't rely on institutions self-regulating and approving their own tests. We do need this oversight."
The report's other key recommendations included increased funding for inspections and audits of research facilities, and the establishment of a national research centre dedicated to finding humane alternatives to testing on animals.
