EU Parliament votes to abolish animal testing
The European Parliament (EP) has passed a resolution calling on the European Commission to establish an EU-wide action plan for actively phasing out the use of animals for experimental purposes.
The plan is intended to include milestones and targets in order to create incentives towards animal-free, human-based methods and away from animal testing .
Cross-departmental working group called for
The EP emphasised that the action plan should not be the responsibility of a select few, but should be developed by a high-level, cross-departmental working group.
Every year, nearly 10 million animals are used in invasive experiments in EU laboratories, including monkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, mice and rats. This enormous scale has barely changed over the past 10 years.
By calling for an EU-wide action plan with an ambitious timeline and various milestones, the EP is sending a clear signal.
Opinion polls show that abolishing animal testing is a priority for EU citizens: almost three quarters (72%) agree that the European Commission should set binding targets and deadlines for phasing out animal testing.
«The vote represents a historic moment for the animal welfare movement . At last, the demand of European citizens to phase out animal testing and transition to human-relevant science has been heard», commented the NGOs.
Further information
Science is developing an ever-growing range of cutting-edge animal-free models, such as organs on computer chips, metabolism-based approaches and computer models. These hold enormous potential for replacing animals while simultaneously improving research.
The American Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to reduce its requirements for mammalian studies and the corresponding funding by 30% by 2025, and to require and fund no mammalian studies at all by 2035.
