EU review of #AnimalExperiments 'is a missed opportunity for change'

On 15 November, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) criticized a missed opportunity to improve animal welfare and take a significant step towards finally ending primate testing following the release of the European Commission’s report reviewing the EU Animal Experiments Directive.

The Commission report states that Directive 2010/63/EU is a “sound foundation” for the regulation of animals used in testing and refuses to recommend any significant changes to the current legislation.

The ECEAE believes that this review has been a missed opportunity to improve the welfare of animals by failing to:

• Permit member states to improve animal welfare beyond the Directive;
• close loopholes in the implementation of alternatives to animal testing, and;
• introduce a timetable for phasing out monkey experiments.

EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes was adopted in 2010. All use of live animals for research or education, and testing in the EU must be carried out in compliance with it.

The Commission’s review was carried out to assess progress towards the Directive’s three main goals of ensuring efficient functioning of the EU internal market and research industry through the creation of a level playing field; ensuring high standards of welfare for animals still used for scientific purposes; and improving transparency to the general public on the use of live animals for scientific purposes in the EU.

The ECEAE is now calling on the Commission to commit to a complete review of the Directive in 2019 and to instigate independent reviews into the use of monkeys and non-animal alternatives. The Coalition has launched an Ombudsman complaint into the biased make-up of a working group whose controversial report on the need to use monkeys in research was unquestioningly relied on by the Commission in its review.

Director of Science and Regulatory Affairs at the ECEAE Dr Katy Taylor said: “The European Commission review is a missed chance to improve the Directive, particularly its rules on the highly controversial continued use of monkeys in experiments. The Commission should have taken the opportunity to do the right thing and, based on scientific and ethical grounds, introduced a timetable for phasing out these cruel tests on our closest cousins. The public will be extremely disappointed by this lack of vision, and we are now calling on the Commission to address this issue and commit to a full review in 2019.”

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