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PressemitteilungenZur sofortigen Freigabe: 11/05/10 – von: 86/609 European ministers accused of misleading the public over animal experiments lawThe ECEAE (European Coalition to End Animal Experiments), a coalition of animal protection groups across the EU, has today accused European ministers of seriously misleading the public over a new law about animal experiments. The current law, Directive 86/609, is being revised. In a statement issued today, the Council of Ministers has made several inaccurate claims: • The statement says under the new laws animal experiments will have to be replaced wherever possible, with numbers and suffering reduced to a minimum. In fact, there is nothing new about this – this is already the law. Worse, the new law would allow animals to be used even where there is an adequate replacement where the replacement is not listed in European legislation. Based on the latest EU statistics, this would account for around 78% of all experiments (such as those conducted for basic research) • It is claimed that the use of non-human primates (NHPs) will be subject to tight restrictions. This is untrue. Although there are such restrictions on the use of great apes (which account for a tiny proportion of NHP use), researchers will be able to use other NHPs even for very minor human ailments (as the Dutch Government has been honest enough to acknowledge), and in basic research without any special protection at all • The statement claims that only the offspring of NHPs bred in captivity or sourced from self-sustaining colonise can be used. This is also untrue. This is merely a long-term aspiration, contingent on researchers’ supply needs. • The statement talks about the fight against diseases but says nothing about the fact that animals will continue to be experimented on, in large numbers, for reasons which have nothing to do with finding cures for diseases – such as the safety testing of inessential products, curiosity-driven research and education (where there are already alternatives available). • It is claimed that projects will have to be authorised by governments in advance. In fact, for very large numbers of experiments (for safety testing), governmental involvement will be minimal • The statement says that the new directive is a step towards the ultimate goal of achieving the full replacement of experiments on animals when scientifically possible, but the Council position contains no mechanisms for achieving the goal. In particular, ministers have rejected the use of targets and frequent reviews to reflect public opinion and evolving science ECEAE Chief Executive Michelle Thew states: The rhetoric just does not match the reality. There is a huge gap between the impression given by the EC of what will now happen and the actual reality for the millions of animals who will continue to suffer and die in European laboratories. We are extremely disappointed that an opportunity to improve animal welfare and place greater restrictions on animal experimentation has so far been lost. The battle will now go back to the European Parliament.’ For further information contact Sarah Kite at sarah.kite@buav.org or +44 (0) 207 700 4888 NOTES: |
