Research and polls show that the general public wants greater protection for animals and over 79% of the EU’s citizens believe that public funding for alternative validation and research methods to replace animal testing is insufficient. Yet…

It is the 86/609/CEE directive which protects animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes in EU legislation.1

It is over 20 years old and must be updated. A revised version was proposed by the European Commision and two votes took place. The first round of voting was on the 31st March, and the 2nd on the 5th May 2009.

Both members of the scientific community against animal testing and animal rights activists were shaken by the outcome of these votes. The directive has actually RELAXED regulation and made conditions worse for animals in laboratories.

On the 31st March, members of the European Parliament rejected amendments:

• The revision of the ethical nature of animal testing
• The ban on the use of non-human primates in “non-basic research” (which has no medical uses)
• The addition of new species and foetus in the final 3 months of their development to the “protected” species list.
• The ban on using captured wild animals.

Voting on the 5th of May reduced restrictions on the use of non-human primates even allowing the same animal to be used for multiple tests.

This has strengthened our resolve to abolish animal testing, as it seems that it seems that negotiating the animal’s well being leaves the doors open for lobbyists from chemical, medical and vivisection interest groups.

Our final ray of hope? The European Parliament isn’t alone in deciding the outcome of this directive, and a report on this issue will be presented to the Council of European Ministers in July 2009. This report will be debated by both the European Parliament and the EU Commission.

• 1.

  Protection of animals used for experimental purposes (europa.eu)