Court bans brain research on zebra finches

The cantonal administrative court has declared unlawful the highly burdensome experiments planned in Zurich to investigate the neural processes underlying birdsong in zebra finches.

On 24 November 2022, it overturned the first-instance decision of the Zurich Health Directorate. The reasoning: the scientific gains were too limited to justify the enormous suffering of the animals given that no concrete medical benefit for humans was foreseeable. This ruling is a landmark success for animal protection.

Researchers downplay the burden

The Institute of Neuroinformatics at ETH and the University of Zurich submitted an application in October 2018 for an animal experiment intended to decode the mechanisms in the brains of zebra finches underlying the production of birdsong. Head implants were planned for more than 100 of a total of 136 animals. This misassessment amounts to a trivialization.

Scientific gains massively overestimated

According to the researchers, the experiments were intended to yield not only insights into the neural mechanisms related to singing behaviour, but also knowledge about human language acquisition. However, the court was not swayed by this. In Switzerland every animal experiment must undergo a weighing of interests. “The finches would have been subjected to the most severe burdens without any concrete benefit for humans being foreseeable,” said Nadja Brodmann of the Zurich Animal Protection Society. “Brain surgery, bleak solitary confinement and hours of restraint during measurements — such research is highly unethical in the extreme.”

A ruling with a signal effect

The significance of the administrative court ruling extends far beyond this individual case. In practice, it is a regular occurrence that ethically and scientifically questionable applications are wrongfully approved. Brodmann states: “Only thanks to the right of appeal held by our animal welfare delegates were the zebra finches spared from terrible pain and suffering.”

«We demand a departure from such dubious, highly invasive animal experiments and a shift toward animal-free methods, which are often faster, cheaper, and more informative», says Brodmann.

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