Europe adopts new law on animal experimentation, including a ban on use of great apes

The European Parliament voted to adopt a new law on animal experimentation, which replaces the nearly 25-year-old European Directive Directive 86/609 that regulates the use of more than 12 million animals in EU laboratories each year. The new law - which has been hotly debated during years of negotiation - introduces key improvements that will significantly strengthen animal protection in many of the newer member state countries where only minimum standards presently exist. In other countries such as the UK and Germany, it is likely to be 'business as usual' with few new restrictions on animal use to apply.

The European Commission's Agriculture Committee cleared the legislation - which strives to strike the right balance between improving animal welfare and assisting research against diseases - in the summer (The Pharma Letter July 14).
This review of the Animal Welfare Directive is designed to improve and harmonize standards across EU member states. The main new provisions consist of a mandatory ethical review and authorization systems. The Directive intends to support research in Europe while encouraging refinement, reduction and replacement (3R's). It also focuses on developing and implementing alternative methods that will bring direct and tangible welfare benefits.

The new law includes:

' A ban on the use of great apes such as chimpanzees (with prohibitive limitations on opportunities to deviate from the ban; no great apes currently used in EU labs). The Commission's draft law would also have restricted the use of other primates such as ouistitis and macaques but Memebers of the European Parliament (MEPs) felt this could hamper scientific research into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The Parliament and the Council agreed to allow the use of such primates if there is scientific evidence that the goal of the test cannot be achieved without using these species.