International Testing Programs

Some rights for animals were recently granted under the German constitution, and Europe has enacted a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics products. In addition, a Europe-wide directive has been issued requiring the use of alternatives in place of animal experiments where they exist. With all this, it might seem as though animals in European laboratories are relatively better off than those in the U.S. and elsewhere. Scratch the surface, however, and things are more complicated.

In 2007, the European Union introduced a new chemical-testing strategy that is likely to cause millions of animals to be needlessly killed in cruel and outdated toxicity tests. The plans call for some 30,000 common chemicals to be subjected to an extensive range of animal testing. As a result of heavy pressure from PETA and other animal protection organizations, the final law is less destructive than the original draft and contains some progressive elements—but still, millions of animals are likely to die.

Europe is home to some of the most shocking experiments on nonhuman primates ever to be documented. An undercover investigation in 2003 at the German branch of Covance, one of the largest contract testing labs in the world, documented the horrific suffering of thousands of monkeys who were subjected to a life of deprivation, fear, torment, and poisoning. Comparable conditions were also found in a U.S. Covance laboratory that PETA investigated the following year. A similarly deplorable chimpanzee facility in the Netherlands at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre has finally been shut down after performing harmful experiments on chimpanzees for years. With its closure, no great apes are used for research anywhere in Europe—a situation that PETA’s European affiliates are campaigning to make permanent. However, the battle to put an end to harmful research on nonhuman primates and other animals is far from over.

The European Union is considering new legislation that would regulate animal experiments in all 27 member countries. Currently, 12 million animals are officially used in scientific procedures in the European Union every year, and the use of many other animals goes unrecorded. There is no possibility that the new law will end animal tests, but PETA’s European affiliates will work hard to ensure that the best possible results are obtained for animals during the process of turning the proposal into law. One of the many measures they will be fighting for will be a permanent end to tests on all primates.

Europe has shown that it can be progressive. In March 2009, a European Union–wide ban on the sale of cosmetics products containing ingredients that have been tested on animals went into effect. The ban is not yet complete—it allows some kinds of tests to continue until 2013, and there may be loopholes that could lead to other tests in some circumstances—but the sales ban means not only that cosmetics testing is mostly ended in the European Union but also that even products tested elsewhere cannot be sold there. This radical approach makes it one of the most enlightened and ambitious pieces of legislation on animal testing anywhere in the world. Still better, the 2009 deadline has led to the development of new, highly effective non-animal testing methods that are now being used to replace animals in experiments all over the world.

While the situation in Europe is far from perfect, progress is being made, and more can be made. With your help, we can bring about a day when one step forward for animals in laboratories does not also mean two steps back. Get the facts and the information you need to help animals here.