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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: September 2007

European Parliament moves to halt monkey use in labs

 

STRASBOURG--Four hundred thirty-five of the 785 members of the European Parliament on September 6, 2007 endorsed a two-part written declaration asking the European Commission to "make ending the use of apes and wild-caught monkeys in scientific experiments an urgent priority," and to "establish a timetable for replacing the use of all primates in scientific experiments."

The declaration against primate use drew more support than any previous European Parliament animal welfare measure, "and the third highest number of signatures on any declaration since 2000," said Animal Defenders International press officer Allison Tuffrey Jones.

European Parliament animal welfare panel chair Neil Parish enlarged the topic to other species, telling news media that the declaration "sends a clear message to the Commission that animal experimentation should be phased out."

European laboratories use about 10,000 nonhuman primates per year, according to ADI. About 40% of the total are used in Brtain. The nations next most involved in doing nonhuman primate studies are France and Germany.

"A European Commission survey from 2006 found that 80% of Europeans are against the use of primates for scientific purposes," said Agence France-Presse.

Pushing the declaration forward was British songwriter Maria Daines' second pro-animal composition of the summer to top the independent online pop rock charts. Daines released Monkey In A Cage about one month after producing One Small Dog to benefit the Homeless Animal Protection Society of Ethiopia. As a publicity stunt, Daines and several other celebrities posed in a primate transport case.

ADI tactics included distributing monkey doorhangers to the members of the European Parliament, plus "novelty bags with serious reportsS¹alongside credit card-size monkey mints and bathtime luxuries," said Tuffrey Jones.

The campaign gained momentum after Justice John Mitting of the British High Court ruled on July 27, 2007 that the British Home Office improperly understated the degree of suffering that marmosets would experience when it licensed invasive brain experiments at Cambridge University.

"The case was brought after a 10-month undercover investigation by the British Union Against Vivisection at a Cambridge neuroscience lab during 2000 and 2001," summarized Mike Taylor of The Independent. "The investigation revealed that the Home Office had assigned a 'moderate' suffering category to experiments which included such procedures as removing the top of a marmoset's head and part of the brain to induce strokes. Guidelines state that any procedure which 'may lead to a major departure from the animal's usual state of health and wellbeing' must be categorised as 'substantial.'"

The Home Office intends to appeal the verdict.

Justice Mitting rejected three other BUAV contentions.

In April 2007, the parliament of Bremen state, Germany unanimously asked the University of Bremen to halt macaque brain experiments conducted by neuroscientist Andreas Kreitur. The experiments are licensed to continue to the end of 2008.

"Neither the state parliament nor the state government can order the university to close down the [brain research] center," explained Quirin Schiermeier in Nature, "but Kreiter fears that political pressure will force the local authorities not to approve further experiments."