The rules for conducting experiments with animals in Europe will become tougher
The European Union will tighten the rules for conducting medical experiments on animals. According to Western news agencies, the European Commission has proposed a draft of the relevant law, which should now be discussed in the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers. The purpose of the bill is to reduce the number of animals used in experiments and improve the conditions of their detention. Twelve million individuals of various species participate in scientific experiments in the European Union every year.
European Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas pointed out in the official message of the European Commission to the need for "further development of science without experiments on animals." "Scientific research should be focused on finding alternative ways to collect evidence. And only when there is no alternative to using experimental animals, such a practice is permissible," the Spanish newspaper El Mundo quotes the official.
The first item in the draft law is a pan-European ban on medical experiments on humanoid primates, such as chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans. However, this change is not significant, since according to statistics, only one case of such an experiment has been known in the European Union since 1999. In a number of EU states, for example, in Germany and Belgium, relevant local bans have been in effect for several years.
The authors of the law also strengthen the requirements for the observance of the rights of animals participating in testing. The conditions of detention must meet the needs of each species. This applies to the size of cages and aviaries, nutrition, ambient temperature and a number of other parameters. Control over the conditions of detention should be carried out on an ongoing basis.
For the first time, octopuses, squids and some crustaceans, such as crabs and lobsters, were included in the list of animals for research on which permission from the European Commission on Ethics is required. The creators of the bill motivated this by the fact that new scientific data indicate the ability of these organisms to feel pain.
At the same time, the European Commission understands that it is currently impossible to completely abandon animal experiments. Therefore, certain exceptions are allowed. Researchers will be able to obtain permits to conduct research with the participation of some prohibited species, if we are talking about their survival in nature, or if it is necessary to combat large-scale epidemics of deadly diseases for humans.
The researchers themselves were skeptical about the new bill. According to them, he will only add paperwork to them, without providing additional protection of animal rights. Not to mention the fact that the new law will have to be discussed in the European Parliament, where, according to scientists, it may change in a more radical direction. So many animal rights activists demand to ban experiments on primates in general.
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07.11.2008