86/609/EEC amendments continue

The European Parliament has rejected calls for changes in legislation that would have severely restricted the use of animals in research. It was feared that amendments to the directive (which were proposed in 2001) would limit animal research and increase related bureaucracy. Yesterday (May 6th) a large majority of the European Parliament voted in favor of the committee's recommendation and the report now moves to the Council of Ministers.

Despite broad approval from the science community, some aspects of the directive could still cause problems such as continued protection for the tiny juvenile forms of cephalopods and the push for compulsory data sharing on all projects. Final decisions on the amendments to the animal-research directive may not be made for up to 2 years.

Read the ScienceInsider article in full.

Concern over EU Directive revision

Some of the most influential voices in the UK bioscience sector have come together to voice concern over the Revision of EU Directive 86/609 on animal experimentation, through the Understanding Animal Research website. The declaration welcomes the opportunity to update the Directive, but voices concern that elements of the draft revised Directive could 'have a number of potential adverse impacts on bioscience research, on medical and scientific progress and on scientific and commercial competitiveness, both in the UK and across Europe.

Although it is hoped that the updated Directive will result in a great emphasis on the three R's of Reduction, Refinement and Replacement with relation to the use of animals in research, the authors of the declaration of concern reiterate their belief that animal research remains essential for the following purposes:

• To develop fundamental biological knowledge;
• To help deliver new medicines and treatments for citizens across the globe;
• To protect the health of humans, animals and the environment

The signatories include: Sir Mark Walport (Wellcome Trust), Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Medical Research Council), Professor Douglas Kell (BBSRC), Simon Denegri (Association of Medical Research Charities), Dr Richard Dyer (Biosciences Federation), Dr Simon Festing (Understanding Animal Research), Kenneth Applebee (Institute of Animal Technology), Chris Brinsmead (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry) and Aisling Burnand (BioIndustry Association).

Read the Declaration in full.

New guidelines on animal research

The MRC, BBSRC, NERC and the Wellcome Trust have produced new collaborative guidelines on conduct relating to the use of animals in research. The guidelines outline the legal controls on using animals in research and details how the researchers should apply the 3Rs - replacement, refinement and reduction. Dr Mark Prescott, programme manager at the National Center for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in research (NC3Rs) believes, '"The guidelines have teeth because they are linked to funding... If you put an application in, and the referees and the review panel of the funding body are not confident that you are applying the guidelines - and you can't address their concerns - they won't support the work"'.

Read the full article from THES

The National Center for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in research website

Amount of animal testing continues to rise despite legislation

Home Office figures have shown that the levels of animal testing in Britain reached a 15-year high of 3.1m last year, despite legislation aimed at minimising the use and suffering of animals in medical research. Professor Balls, Chairman of Frame (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) has called for an urgent review of the way animal experiments are licensed saying "As a scientist I'm entitled to believe in modern technology to deal with these problems but I'm disappointed that more effort hasn't been put into bringing the numbers down". Dr Richmond, head of the scientific procedures division at the Home Office said the trend for more animals being used was likely to continue as the number of scientists using genetically modified mice increased.

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,2133435,00.html