LEGISLATION

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• Lab Animals (86/609)

ISSUES

• Alternatives
• Genetics
• Primates

Revision of Directive 86/609 on the Welfare of Laboratory Animals

	Rabbits are commonly used in painful eye and skin tests.

In summer 2008 the European Commission (EC) will publish its proposal on the revision of its Directive on the Welfare of Laboratory Animals – Directive 86/609.

What is Directive 86/609?

86/609 is a hugely powerful Directive that has power of life and death over millions of animals across the continent – setting out minimum standards for how and whether animals can be used in experiments. The Directive is now 21 years old and in urgent need of overhaul.

A staggering ten million animals are used in outdated and wasteful experiments in European laboratories every year. The Directive is supposed to ensure “the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes” but the huge numbers show that it’s just not doing that. As it stands Directive 86/609 does very little to challenge the traditional reliance on animal testing and promote non-animal alternatives.

The ECEAE are lobbying hard for a much tougher Directive – including a complete ban on the use of non-human primates. Sadly, we can’t realistically expect to see the total ban on animal experimentation we would all like to see - but we can and must take this opportunity to get the best possible result for animals in laboratories: a new Directive which brings the end of vivisection closer.

What has happened so far?

In summer 2006 the European Commission ran a public consultation on how it should revise the Directive. It received over 40,000 responses from concerned citizens across Europe – the third highest number of responses to any such consultation ever. That included hundreds of supporters of the members of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) – so if you took the time to complete the questionnaire, a huge thank you. 

Respondents were overwhelmingly supportive of a much tougher Directive – for instance, 93% stated that they believed that “more needs to be done to improve the level of welfare/protection of animals used in experiments by action at EU level”. However, the Commission is at pains to stress that this response is not necessarily indicative of public opinion.

The Commission also ran an ‘expert’ consultation with more detailed questions. The ECEAE responded to this questionnaire at length.  Our key demands included: 

• a complete ban on the use of non-human primates in scientific research (see here)
• an end to the kinds of experiments that cause the greatest suffering
• a process to ensure a consistent reduction in numbers of animal experiments
• extension of the scope of the Directive to cover animals like lobsters, octopi and others which currently have no legal protection whatsoever
• a genuinely open and transparent process of regulation of experiments which will allow the public to know what really takes place in laboratories, what the results of all experiments are and how the officials and departments which regulate them do their jobs.

What happens next?

The Commission’s draft proposal is expected in summer 2008. At this point it will enter a long process of examination and amendment by the European Parliament and Council, which could take up to two years to complete. This is where we can start to put real pressure on European politicians to support specific measures that they will be able to vote for – for example, a ban on primates.

Predictably, those who support animal research are trying very hard to fight any measures that look like they might lead to a reduction in animal use. That’s why we will need to be lobbying even harder every step of the way, and will take every opportunity to put pressure on policy-makers to get real improvements for animals.

How can I help?

At this stage, please send an email to your MEP alerting them to the draft Directive due in summer 2008 and asking them to make sure they only support a version that contains, at the least, the demands we’ve listed above. 

You can find a list of the MEPs in your region here, along with their address and their email (if there’s no email then they prefer a letter). You can choose any MEP or MEPs in your region to contact; if you normally vote for one party, it is probably worth addressing MEPs in that party, beginning the letter along the lines of, ‘as a long time supporter of the xxx party …’. And remember to keep your email polite and concise.

Once the draft Directive is published in May/June, ECEAE member groups will be asking their supporters to contact MEPs in more detail about specific aspects of the proposal.