Dr Hadwen Trust: UK Government launches public consultation on animal experiments

Monday, 11 May 2009 12:00 AM

The Home Office has launched a public consultation [1] on EU proposals to update animal experiments law. The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research says the 62 page technical consultation will not assess ordinary people's views and urges the government to do more to take account of the public's call for change for animals in laboratories.

The European Commission first published its draft revision of the EU's 20-year old law, Directive 86/609, back in November 2008 [2]. Its proposals were for a future-thinking EU science agenda that combined responsible limits on animal use including curbs on scientists' freedom to use monkeys in experiments with no clear human benefit, together with support for cutting-edge non-animal research.

However, the European Parliament voted on May 5th in favour of measures that would weaken the Commission's proposal by watering-down many of the key animal welfare provisions. [3] Sustained lobbying by the pharmaceutical and other animal research industries succeeded in chipping away at commitments to better protect animals.

The Council of Ministers (Member State representatives) will now formulate its position on the proposal, and the current Home Office consultation will inform UK policy recommendations made during the Council negotiations.

The Dr Hadwen Trust, the UK's leading non-animal medical research charity, says that EU citizens have already made it clear they want change for animals in laboratories. When the EU Commission held a public consultation on Directive 86/609 in 2006, 42,665 people responded with 13.4% from the UK. Of respondents, 93% believed more needs to be done to improve laboratory animal welfare/protection.[3]

"It's clear from the European Commission's own public consultation in 2006 that EU citizens are deeply concerned about animal suffering." says Wendy Higgins, Communications Director at the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research. "They want an animal experiments law that Europe can be proud of, introducing responsible limits on animal use rather than allowing scientists carte-blanche to experiment on animals without restriction. Despite this, EU politicians have so far largely ignored public calls for reform and pandered instead to animal research industry lobbying. The Home Office's new consultation is not designed to take account of ordinary people's views. We urge the government to make every effort to genuinely listen to the British people's call for change for laboratory animals, and to act when it's time to vote in Brussels."

At the same time as the consultation, a public cyber march on the EU institutions in Brussels has been launched jointly by the Dr Hadwen Trust, Four Paws and Humane Society International at www.makeanimaltestinghistory.org. Within the first two weeks of launch, already over 20,000 people have created virtual protesters marching towards the EU parliament calling for a range of reforms in the new EU law including a phase-out of experiments on non-human primates and greater action on non-animal alternatives.

More than 12 million animals are used in EU labs each year. The proposals will be voted on by the Council of Ministers later in the year, before being sent back to the EU Parliament again in a process expected to stretch into 2010.

The Home Office consultation will run for eight weeks ending on 3rd July.

Notes

1. View the consultation at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2009-animals-research/

2. European Commission proposal can be read here http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52008PC0543:EN:NOT

3. MEPs voted on May 5th to reject strict limits on re-use of animals, reject restricting experiments on monkeys, reject time-tabled phase-out of monkey use over time or a phase out of F1 generation monkeys (offspring of wild-caught parents) without an additional prior feasibility study, reject mandatory central authorisation for all experiments, reject retrospective ethical review for almost all experiments.

3. The European Commission's Citizens' Questionnaire 16 June - 18 August 2006 has 42,665 respondents from all 25 Member States. Of respondents, 93 % believed more needs to be done to improve laboratory animal welfare/protection by action at EU level; 81% thought experiments on non-human primates is unacceptable; 92% said the EU should play a leadership role in promoting in the international arena a greater awareness of animal welfare and protection, in particular regarding animals used in experiments.

The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research is the UK's leading non-animal medical research charity. www.drhadwentrust.org

Tags: