Wednesday, 12 May 2010 11:02

The Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) agreed to toughen regulations governing animal testing, with measures such as prohibiting practices with great apes such as orangutans and chimpanzees, apart from exceptional cases, said today in a statement.

The General Affairs Council of the EU decided to include these restrictions in a directive for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes aimed at strengthening their welfare and to allow, at the same time, research continues to develop its "key role in disease control. "

According to experts cited by the Council, some 12 million animals are used each year in scientific experiments in the EU.

Under these new arrangements, the Twenty-seven will have to ensure that experiments with animals are replaced, whenever possible, in an alternative "scientifically satisfying."

Moreover, the number of animals used in projects must be minimized without compromising the quality of results, and the level of pain and suffering by animals must be limited to the minimum.
Por otra parte, el uso de primates no humanos con fines científicos estará sujeto a "duras" restricciones, de modo que se prohibirán los experimentos con grandes simios como chimpancés, gorilas y orangutanes.

However, the Council will "exceptionally" to Member States the use of great apes, if there is a "justifiable reason" to believe that it is essential to the survival of the species itself or due to an "unexpected" a disease outbreak very serious for humans.

Nor allow experimentation on animals taken from their natural environment, with certain exceptions, and the primates will be used only if they are young animals that have been bred in captivity, or whether they come from a colony that is maintained by itself.

Any experiments in which animals are used need to undergo a preliminary assessment and obtain an authorization, and the Twenty-seven will have to ensure also that all breeders, suppliers and consumers are authorized and registered by the competent authority.

The new directive will cover all vertebrate animals, including certain types of larvae, fetuses of mammals from their last trimester of normal development and cephalopods (eg squids).



The decision will be formally approved at the next meeting of the Council after the end of the text, after which it will be brought to Parliament for second reading.

For its part, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) "Eurogroup for Animals" appreciated the Council's decision, although he has expressed concern that the new EU rules do not reflect "full" level of concern from citizens about animal experimentation.




The NGOs felt that promoting the use of alternatives to animal testing is not enough and called it "disappointing" that have proved so "controversial" issues such as an ethical study on minimum standards on care.