European Commission calls for greater ban on primate testing

Sunday, November 9, 2008 11:46
Posted in category motorcycle patches

The proposal, announced this past week, would “ban laboratory tests on mankind’s closest relatives — chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans — in a clampdown on animal testing by the drugs industry and other researchers.”
Sounds like a terrific step forward, yes. Although as advocacy groups noted, great apes haven’t been used in EU research in six years so perhaps this is more of a token gesture than any real progress. Moreover, monkeys and other animals would not be covered by the ban. The plan also calls for tighter welfare standards, although it was not entirely clear (at least to me), whether any improvements applied only to primates or to all animals used in research. Overwhelmingly, most animal testing is done on rats and mice.
As you can imagine, the announcement generated media attention all over the world, especially in Europe. Here’s a sampling of the stories from Reuters (via STV.tv), Financial Times, [...]

  • Washington state judge refuses to allow prosecution in scalded monkey case
  • Pet Groomers and Licensing
  • ‘First Dogs’ Exhibit Puts Obama Pet Choice To Test - CBS2 Chicago
  • Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.