There will still exist a fascinating dichotomy, up until we can predict result without either simulation or animal models. An ideal engineered organism would be a delightfully weird homunculus, and a sufficiently advanced simulation could be deemed to be a living creature too.
Perhaps it is best to make sure that lab technicians feel a great deal of empathy for the animals they work with.
I would hope instead that they refuse to do certain procedures. Then if someone else gets asked to do the same procedure in hope of less empathy there should be alarms going off.
The lab technicians will after all be the experts on the subject; not academics on an ethics board.
Perhaps it is best to make sure that lab technicians feel a great deal of empathy for the animals they work with.