All members of soc.culture.belgium
Latest figures show Animal Testing is up overall by 3.2% to 12.1
million in Europe for 2005. This is despite European Commission and
member state's individual promises to reduce and replace the use of
animals in experiments.
Some details for 2005:-
Dogs 22,000
Cats 3,600
Primates 10,394
Mice 6 million 53%
Rats 2.2 million 19%
Birds 650,000 5.4%
Rabbits 300,000 2.6%
Cold Blooded Animals 1.8 million 15%
Guinea Pigs 240,000 2.1%
The European Commission is currently reviewing Directive 86/609/EEC,
which sets out the rules for animal experimentation across the whole
of Europe. There is still time to make a difference to the final
draft.
The European Commission itself acknowledges that non-animal
replacements "...have the potential to provide robust information
through quality-controlled, state-of-the-art tests which are faster
and less cost-intensive than classical animal-based tests".
Contact your MEPs and urge them to make Alternative Research a
priority as part of the revision process of Directive 86/609/EEC.
For contact details of your MEPs visit
http://www.europarl.europa.eu
Many non-animal research techniques exist that are cheaper, quicker
and more effective than Animal Testing. A few are molecular research,
computer simulations, tissue and organ culture and use of micro-
organisms such as bacteria. It is in all our interest that Animal
Testing is replaced with Alternatives based on Human Biology not
Animals.
For evidence that superior Alternative Research & Testing is replacing
Animal Testing visit
http://www.drhadwentrust.org/
For more on the Revision of Directive 86/609/EEC
http://www.eceae.org/english/labanimals.html
For more on the EU Animal Testing statistics visit
http://www.buav.org/x_newsflash.php
Everyone can help and you can make a difference.
Thank You
T.G., Nottingham, England
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