‘Stop Vivisection’ petition awaits reply
2 Jun 2015 by Evoluted New Media
After the ‘Stop Vivisection’ public hearing at the European Parliament, the Commission – responsible for legislation – will issue a formal reply on the 3rd June 2015.
Their petition – that attracted more than one million signatures in 26 EU countries – called for the replacement of animal testing with more accurate, reliable and human-relevant methods. If the petition is successful, the current legislation could be repealed and as a result, the use of animals in scientific procedures in the EU could be banned.
The Italian groups – Almo Nature and the International Organisation for Animal Protection – responsible for the ‘Stop vivisection’ campaign, aim to demonstrate that animal experimentation cannot provide reliable answers in the study of human diseases.
Virologist Dr Françoise Barré-Sinoussi – Nobel Prize winner for physiology – who opposed the petition said: “Several breakthroughs have been made because of animal models. The treatment of diabetes and polio vaccines has been first proven efficient in animal models.
In France, 80% of the research that use animal models first used alternative methods and it is only when there is no other choice that scientists move on and continue validating the alternative method onto animals.”
The Italian groups also argued that animal testing has hindered development of alternative biomedical research methods.
In a letter published in The Times and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a group of Nobel Laureates said: “We do not wish for animals to be involved in research forever, and the research community is committed to finding alternative models. However, we are not there yet.”
Members of the European Parliament argued that if animal testing – currently a regulatory requirement for new drugs – is banned would push scientists and companies to move their research to countries where both animal welfare standards and research quality is lower.
http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/initiatives/finalised/details/2012/000007/en
