EU approves new regulation on animal-testing

The European Union’s rules on the use of animals for scientific research were updated on Wednesday, despite claims from some lawmakers they would still allow cruelty.

EU lawmakers put the final seal of approval on legislation originally proposed by the European Commission in 2008 and amended since in coordination with national governments.

Under the compromise, animals can be used for “basic research and for research into human, animal or plant diseases, drug testing and species preservation, and also for higher education and forensic investigations,” the EU assembly said in a statement.

But their use would be permitted only when no alternative was available, with national authorities mandated to check compliance before every experiment, and empowered to perform on-the-spot checks in laboratories.

Elisabeth Jeggle, the German conservative who negotiated on behalf of the EU parliament, said the agreement would provide a much-needed update to previous regulations dating back to 1986, resulting in a “quantum leap forward for animal protection.”

The EU’s environment commissioner, Janez Potocnic, agreed, claiming that the bloc would “soon be able to say it has the highest standards of experimental animal welfare in the world.”

But a minority of EU deputies took a different view.

Jill Evans, from the Welsh regional party Plaid Cymru, said Greens were defeated in their request to let national governments adopt stricter standards as compared to those mandated by EU legislation.

She also said testing on primates for the sake of research on human diseases should have been restricted to seriously debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

“With some 12 million animals used each year in scientific experiments in the EU, we could and should have gone much further,” Evans said.

Others, such as Italian conservative Clemente Mastella, squirmed at the “disturbing” thought that no outright ban was placed on experimenting on stray cats and dogs and on non-anesthetized animals.

Sonia Alfano, an Italian liberal, criticized provisions allowing for repeat testing on the same animal, albeit up to a certain level of inflicted pain.

However, her call to send the bill back to committee-level to strengthen animal welfare guarantees was overhelmingly rejected.

via Earth Times News.