Air France stops primate deliveries to laboratories
Air France is discontinuing the transport of primates to research laboratories. The airline was the last major carrier to conduct such shipments.
On Thursday, 30 June 2022, Air France publicly announced that it would no longer transport primates for animal testing.
Through its universities, France is a country through which thousands of monkeys from abroad pass, some of which are then distributed to European neighbours. In laboratories, mice, rabbits, horses, fish, cats, pigs, and so many other animals are subjected to tests throughout their entire lives, caught between suffering and fear, until they die in the coldest isolation.
Officially, France is the third deadliest country in Europe after England and Germany. In reality, this figure is an underestimate, as France, unlike its neighbours, does not publish certain data from animal experiments.
France is one of the countries in Europe that continues to conduct experiments on primates, in which the suffering of our relatives is particularly great. Since 1996, we have been calling on Air France to stop participating in this torment of primates. We are very pleased about this decision, even if it comes late compared to the gravity of this issue and relative to other companies.
Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice
Air France was one of the last major national airlines to continue participating in the cruel trade in animals for use in laboratories, particularly monkeys, most of which come from the Republic of Mauritius, where they are forcibly captured in the wild and destined for breeding. Many of them are shipped abroad, making France a hub for this trade, which, while legal, is nonetheless horrifying.
This decision comes against the backdrop of the collection of one million signatures for the European Citizens’ Initiative «Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics» to ending animal testing for cosmetics and the unanimous vote of Members of the European Parliament to phase out animal testing in the EU by September 2021, as well as the effective implementation of the ban on the use of F1 primates (first-generation primates born in captivity from wild-caught individuals) by the end of the year.
We think of the macaques from Indonesia, Cambodia, and Mauritius, transported via the Silabe platform (in connection with the University of Strasbourg), of those still carried by other companies (Wamos Air, Egyptair, or AirBridgeCargo), as well as via Russia or the United States.
The decision will not take effect immediately, but only after the expiry of Air France's current contracts with research laboratories.
