Animal testing - No more pyrogenic testing on rabbits!
It was about time! The law passed in June 2024 by the European Pharmacopoeia Commission has just come into force this July: it bans pyrogenic testing on rabbits in all EU countries. This is a landmark victory for tens of thousands of these adorable mammals. But it has come very late.
These tests were developed in the early 20th century to verify the safety of injectable products (vaccines, antibiotics, etc.) by measuring their ability to induce fever. In EU member states, pyrogenic testing on rabbits has been used systematically since the late 1980s. This process, which we have long denounced, is lethal: the substance is injected into the rabbits’ ears, then their fever is measured before they are killed.
Challenged since the 1990s for their cruelty, unreliability and the existence of methods that do not cause suffering to animals, these tests have nevertheless become the norm in the European Pharmacopoeia.
Despite the existence of alternatives, and the entry into force in 2013 of the European Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, the number of rabbits subjected to these experiments has continued to rise. The figures are chilling: 17,638 pyrogenicity tests were carried out in Europe in 2022 alone. 400,000 individuals are exploited for this purpose worldwide.
A major change of direction
The decision voted in June 2024 during the 179th session of the European Pharmacopoeia Commission is consistent with the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) and complies with the European Convention ETS No. 123.
The consequences are now clear:
- pyrogenic testing on rabbits is banned from the European Pharmacopoeia;
- drug developers must now use in vitro methods, such as Monocyte Activation Tests (MAT). This method, which allows the reaction of human cells in culture to be assessed without the use of animals, has been validated by the European Medicines Agency since… 2010!
Ultimately, this vote could also herald a real change of direction, particularly in terms of ending the exploitation of horseshoe crabs, which is supposedly crucial in the development of vaccines.
One Voice welcomes this major development but remains vigilant. In Europe, rabbits are still being subjected to all kinds of experiments: 372,239 in 2022 alone. In France, they are the second most commonly used species in experimentation.