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Humane Society
International
2100 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037 USA
202-452-1100
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Revise EU Experiments Law to Replace Animal Use |
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| Celebrating the petition. © HSI/Dr. Hadwen Trust |
More than 12 million animals suffer and die each year in research and testing laboratories across the European Union, yet many are denied even minimal protection under EU law.
That's because the existing legislation—Directive 86/609—is out of date, and applies only to “product-related” tests using “living vertebrate” animals, which broadly excludes all forms of scientific research, teaching and training, as well as experiments using sentient non-vertebrate and foetal animals.
Humane Society International (HSI) Europe has been at the forefront of the campaign to update the 20-year-old law, and is calling for the EU to establish a world-leading Centre of Excellence in non-animal research to accelerate the development of more ethical and reliable research methods.
In May 2008, HSI co-hosted an event in the European Parliament with the Dr. Hadwen Trust for Humane Research and world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. During the event, HSI presented the Parliament with a petition signed by 150,000 EU citizens and HSI's joint report, Towards a European Science Without Animal Experiments [PDF].
In addition to the demands regarding animal replacement efforts, HSI Europe is calling on the EU to ensure that the revised animal experiments directive:
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By November 2009, 65,000 people had joined the cyber-rally to demand better science without animal suffering. |
- covers all animals used for scientific research, education and training, and organ/tissue supply, as well as selected invertebrate species and foetuses during the final trimester of development
- requires authorisation of individual projects with compliance checks
- requires mandatory ethical evaluation of projects with minimum requirements (e.g., use of alternatives, harm-benefit analysis, severity classification of procedures, and retrospective analysis of all projects to record deviations and evaluate factual harm and realised benefits)
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HSI's EU Director, Emily McIvor, with Dr. Jane Goodall.
© HSI |
- enhances housing and care standards
- improves public access to information regarding animal use
- bans the use of great apes and wild-caught primates
- requires twice-yearly inspections by national authorities, of which one is unannounced
- establishes minimal legal requirements for the education, training and competence of persons involved in animal experiments
- institutes measures to avoid duplication of animal experiments
- improves statistical reporting through inclusion of: genetically modified animals; covered invertebrate species and foetal forms; animals killed primarily to obtain their tissues or organs; and figures concerning severity classes, numbers of projects, and types of institutions.
Updated April 22, 2009
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