In regards to forced swimming tests on rats: the Ministry of Research wants anonymity from the public and to continue inhumane testing without disclosure...
Since 2022, One Voice has been fighting to obtain information about a project involving forced swimming and electric shocks on hundreds of rats.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) has, as usual, turned a deaf ear to our requests. Despite the court ruling in our favour, it continues to withhold documents, allowing us to see only what is convenient for it. The road to transparency about what animals suffer in laboratories is long, and the ministry is not making our task easy, but we will not give up!
One animal experimentation project caught our attention in 2022. It had the charming name “Modulation of tVTA in mood disorders” or, in other words, “how to induce depression and anxiety in rodents”. The answer is simple: by subjecting them to dozens of electric shocks and endless forced swimming tests. We requested the documents regarding the project from the MESR, but received no response.
After an initial statement was filed in October 2022, the hearing on 23 October 2024 before the Paris Administrative Court ruled in our favour. The court’s case law is clear: the ministry cannot refuse to disclose documents relating to the authorisation of an experimental procedure.
However, the decision allows “the concealment of information relating to privacy or business secrecy”. This information was taken literally by the Ministry, which continued to conceal everything in order to mask the reality of what the animals are suffering:
The Ministry only shows its public what it wants to!
But the minimum he shows is still damning…
Nevertheless, we are not duped! We have therefore taken the matter to court to ask for the judgement to be properly enforced and for these documents to be disclosed so that we can learn more about what these hundreds of rodents endured.
Let us remain mobilised in favour of real transparency for animals and their use by various institutions in France! Join us in calling for an end to these archaic tests by signing our petition.