Dr Hadwen Trust: New petition on animal testing in EU

Monday, 11, Dec 2006 12:00

As Europe's animal testing law is reviewed, animal groups urge European Union "Act now to replace animal experiments"

Animal protection groups across Europe have united today (December 11th 2006) to launch a massive pan-European petition calling on the European Union to increase action on replacing animal experiments with non-animal techniques. The petition has been launched in response to the revision of Directive 86/609/EEC, Europe's 20 year old legislation governing animal experiments. Signatures are being collected in 11 European languages, making this one of the biggest pan-European petition launches of its kind (1).

The European Commission has recognised that the Directive is now desperately out of date (2). Currently, Directive 86/609 does not regulate large areas of laboratory animal use such as ‘basic research’ (including much medical research). Consequently, pan-European efforts to replace animal experiments have tended to overlook these areas, which offer some of the most significant opportunities for making progress in non-animal replacement.

Animal and patient advocacy groups are now urging the European Union to use the revision of Directive 86/609 as a spring board for massively increasing efforts to replace animal experiments with more humane and scientifically relevant non-animal techniques (3). There are currently more than 13 million animal experiments in Europe each year (4).

Coinciding with the revision, a recent Commission 'Action Plan' on animal welfare specifies that "The final aim is to replace animal experiments with methods not entailing the use of an animal"(5) However, animal groups point out that this aim is unlikely to be pursued with sufficient urgency if European institutions do not coordinate efforts to prioritise non-animal replacements.

Wendy Higgins, Communications Director, the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, says:

"There's unlikely to be a better moment than this for the European Union to really commit to meaningful action to replace animal experiments. It would be disastrous if we let it slip through our fingers. The revision of the EU's animal research legislation and the Commission's animal welfare action plan, offer an unprecedented opportunity for progress. European legislators have it in their power to put non-animal replacements at the heart of Europe's research agenda, committing to targeted action and massively increased efforts."

The petition was initiated by the Dr Hadwen Trust, the UK's leading non-animal medical research charity, and is being supported by leading UK animal and patient advocacy groups - Advocates for Animals, Animal Aid, Europeans for Medical Progress, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Uncaged. The petition is also being promoted by animal rights groups across Europe including Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. (6)

Wendy Higgins, Dr Hadwen Trust, adds:

"The Commission itself recognises that non-animal techniques can be faster and more cost-effective than animal research. They are also more ethical and scientifically reliable so this petition calls on the European Union to do everything in its power to make the future of cruelty-free science a reality we can all start benefiting from."(5)

Notes:

1. The petition can be viewed at www.endeuanimaltests.org

2. Council Directive 86/609/EEC of 24 November 1986 on the approximation of laws and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. The Commission will produce and adopt a proposal (expected end Dec 2006) which will be sent to the European Parliament and the Council to undergo co-decision procedure (due to start early 2007, and lasting approximately two years).

3. The petition specifically asks that * EU initiatives to replace laboratory animals will apply to all categories of experiments; * a publicly accessible, comprehensive database of replacement methods is established by the EU; and * a duty is placed on all Member States, institutions and individual scientists to seek, develop and implement methods to replace animal experiments and make immediate use of existing replacement techniques.

4. Statistics compiled by the Dr Hadwen Trust using latest statistical returns from each member state.

5. Commission Working Document on a Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2006-2010. Strategic basis for proposed action, page 9. Brussels, 23.01.2006, SEC(2006)65. COM(2006)14 final.