Animal Experimentation Laws Fail to Meet Basic Standards for Protecting Animals in Laboratories

The European Commission has sent letters of formal notice to six EU countries regarding inadequacies in their national laws designed to protect animals in laboratories. Each member state was required to transfer Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes into national legislation by 10 November 2012. However, nearly six years later, the Commission has found widespread failings in the domestic laws of Estonia, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain. Here are the issues:

• Estonia: The Commission identified over 20 articles and three annexes from the Directive that Estonia had failed to enact appropriately.

• Germany: Not only is it possible that German laboratories aren't subject to proper inspections, the wording of German law is also lacking as regards competency requirements for staff and does not adequately require the presence of veterinarians.

• Portugal: Problem areas in Portugal's law mean there isn't sufficient provision for laboratory inspections, among other shortcomings.

• Romania: Romanian law includes insufficient wording concerning the obligation to have veterinary staff on site at laboratories, and it also falls short on penalties.

• Slovakia: Slovakian law fails to fulfil important obligations regarding penalties. Another shortcoming concerns the country's law regarding the use of anaesthesia.

• Spain: Spanish authorities have previously recognised failings in their law but haven't yet addressed them! Areas of concern include record-keeping and the inclusion of safeguard clauses for the use of non-human primates, which might affect whether primates are being used for prohibited procedures.

Please send an urgent message to the relevant authorities of each country calling on them to protect animals and become global leaders in innovative science by ending all tests on animals and investing in cutting-edge, non-animal research methodologies.

Double Your Impact to Stop Cruel Experiments on Animals. Right now, out of the public eye, experimenters are cutting open, burning, poisoning, and killing animals in laboratories. But today, you can do twice as much to help spare dogs, cats, monkeys, horses, rabbits, mice, and other animals this horrific suffering.

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