MEPs Accused Of ‘Complacency And Cowardice’ As Lab Animal Welfare Proposals Are Defeated For A 3rd Time

Dr. Hadwen Trust:

MEPs accused of ‘complacency and cowardice’ as laboratory animal welfare proposals
are defeated for a third time

Today (March 31st) members of the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural
Development (AGRI) Committee [1] have been accused of complacency and cowardice for
abandoning laboratory animals in the face of dishonest industry tactics. The
Committee voted on proposals to update EU Directive 86/609 on animal experiments[2],
and rejected virtually every measure aimed at improving welfare despite brave
opposition from a minority of MEPs. [3]

Pharmaceutical and other animal research industry lobbying has been both intense and
dishonest. Exaggerated claims about the validity of animal research, deliberate
misrepresentation of many welfare proposals and alarmist threats about driving
scientists abroad have resulted in politicians in three successive Committees [4]
watering down animal protection measures proposed by the European Commission. MEPs
failed to support proposals that would restrict the number of times an animal can be
re-used in multiple experiments, or set limits on the levels of pain they can
endure. [5]

The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, the UK’s leading non-animal medical
research charity, has been shocked at MEPs’ inability to see through such dishonest
industry tactics.

“Twelve million animals in Europe’s laboratories were relying on policy makers to
give them protection against the most painful and least justifiable excesses of
experimentation, but they have been badly let down today.” says the Dr Hadwen
Trust’s Policy Director, Emily McIvor, “The Dr Hadwen Trust has been shocked at the
complacency and cowardice of MEPs who have so easily allowed dishonest industry
tactics to ambush what should have been Europe’s chance to make its animal research
laws respectable and progressive. When companies threaten to take their experiments
abroad if laws require them to be transparent, ethically accountable and apply basic
animal protection, we should hold the door open for them and usher in a new era of
more compassionate science fit for the 21st century.”

The only saving grace of today’s AGRI Committee vote was support for the creation of
new EU and member state facilities to develop more alternatives to animal
experiments. Current Europe-level efforts to develop non-animal alternatives are too
narrowly focused to impact on the majority of research areas where animals are used.
Whilst much progress has been made in finding alternatives to animals in regulatory
toxicity testing, most animals in EU laboratories are used in basic medical research
where far less effort has been focused. MEPs have supported proposals that would see
increased funding and co-ordination to bridge this gap in non-animal replacement
research.

More than 12 million animals are used in EU labs each year. [6] The European
Commission’s proposal for a revised Directive was published in November last year,
containing many balanced and progressive measures such as a ban on the use of great
apes, a phase-out of use of offspring from wild-caught primates, compulsory ethical
review and widening the law’s scope to cover sentient invertebrates, foetal animals
and animals used in basic medical research.
 
The Dr Hadwen Trust funds a medical research programme at British universities to
develop new non-animal techniques such as 3-D models of disease, advanced human
brain imaging equipment and computer modelling. The charity is leading the campaign
for an EU-wide strategy to vastly increase investment in new non-animal replacement
methods through the new EU legislation. World renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall
DBE has supported the campaign[7], travelling to the European Parliament in May 2009
to hand in our 150,000 signature petition from citizens in thirteen member states
calling for greater action on alternatives. 

1. AGRI Committee vote took place at 2pm today (March 31), European Parliament, Brussels.The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research is the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity. www.drhadwentrust.org and www.endeuanimaltests.org 2. Proposals to revise Directive 86/609/EEC were published by the European Commission in November 2008 – the Commission’s proposals can be read here http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52008PC0543:EN:NOT 3. Members of the ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) and the Green Party opposed measures watering down welfare proposals and voted against adoption of the Committee report. 4. Environment Committee, Industry Committee and now the Agriculture Committee all voted in advance of full plenary of the EU Parliament schedule for April. 5. MEPs voted to delete the proposed requirement to set an upper limit of permissible pain and to extend opportunities to re-use animals. 6. 12.1 million animals were used in EU experiments in 2005; Fifth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union published 5/11/2007 (these are the most recent EU wide statistics available). 7. Jane Goodall PhD, DBE is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace. www.janegoodall.org

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