Rousset Breeding Facility – International Day: Press release

One Voice is organising two days of coordinated action across the country to denounce animal experimentation, and more specifically the planned expansion of the Rousset breeding facility (Bouches-du-Rhône). Across France, rallies, events and awareness-raising activities will take place simultaneously to alert the public and decision-makers to the plight of animals used in laboratories.

A national mobilisation in a context of growing opposition to animal experimentation

Through these days of action, One Voice aims to highlight the immovable scale of animal experimentation in France and the continuation of major projects such as the CNRS facility in Rousset, which are out of step with changing societal expectations, technological advances and European policies. It also represents a lag behind pioneering countries with national plans to phase out these practices: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the USA, etc.

Every year, more than 2 million animals are subjected to experiments in laboratories in France which remains by far the leading European country in terms of the total number of animals used. France alone uses nearly 3,000 primates a year, representing a very significant proportion of the 10,000 primates used in experiments across Europe.

At the same time, public opinion is clearly changing. Three out of four French people say they are opposed to animal experimentation (Ipsos/One Voice survey 2023).

The international and European context is also moving towards a reduction. Fortunately so, because, for example, long-tailed macaques, with 2,640 uses in French laboratories in 2024, are now classified as an endangered species. Faced with public pressure, many airlines now refuse to transport them to the laboratories. Nevertheless, their exploitation remains the source of numerous trafficking networks and unscrupulous practices, as our investigations in Mauritius in 2023 revealed.

Investing tens of millions of public funds in commercial projects that exploit animal suffering, such as the expansion of the National Primatology Centre in Rousset, rather than in the development of alternatives, is utter nonsense. This expansion means the detention and breeding of 1,800 primates in order to “produce” half of the macaques destined for French laboratories; there is no real “independence” or ethics involved. France is going against the tide of history by falling considerably behind in the development of ethical biomedical innovations that are more relevant to humans and less costly. It is also at odds with the European stance, with the European Commission whose roadmap for reducing animal testing in its regulations is due to be published within a month, and with Directive 2010/63/EU which has been requiring Member States to phase out animal testing since 2021.

In response to this project, 93% of citizens have expressed their opposition, as have scientists – including the CNRS’s own ethics committee – and MEPs have voiced their doubts and opposition. Yet the CNRS persists in seeing it through to the end.

Behind the figures lie lives: the daily reality of primates in the laboratory

Behind these statistics are sentient, highly evolved living beings who endure repeated experiences of stress, constraint and pain.

Eliot lives in a state of constant anxiety. Locked in his cage, his daily life is punctuated by fear: abrupt awakenings under neon lights, injections, forced immobilisation, electric shocks, forced ingestion of cocaine… In many cases, the animals do not survive or are killed at the end of the experiments; for the survivors, however, it is not over – they are ‘reused’ for further traumatic experiments, driven by financial profitability.

Trésor, a marmoset born at the current CNRS breeding facility in Rousset, died during the insertion of a brain implant. Pietra, used in a neurological experiment, died a few months after brain surgery. Hadj, a rhesus macaque, suffered a succession of injuries, infections and major surgical procedures…

These stories illustrate a reality that is often hidden: that of animals kept in captivity, subjected to invasive, cruel protocols and, in the majority of cases, killed at the end of the experiments.

Protests across France

In this context, One Voice is coordinating simultaneous protests in several cities:

• Marseille — Saturday 25 April – rally — 10.30am–12pm — Quai du Vieux Port
• Metz — Saturday 25 April – rally — 2pm–5pm — Rue Winston Churchill
• Montpellier — Saturday 25 April – rally — 11am–1pm — Place de la Comédie
• Troyes — Saturday 25 April – rally — 2.30pm–5pm — Place de l’Hôtel de Ville
• Brive — Saturday 25 April – rally — Details to follow on our website
• La Rochelle — rally — 2.30pm–5pm — Place des Petits Bancs
• Abbeville — Saturday 25 April – rally — Details to follow on our website
• Bar-le-Duc — Saturday 25 April – rally — 2pm–3pm – 16 Rue de la Rochelle
• Bordeaux — Sunday 26 April – rally — 2pm–5pm — Place de la Comédie
• Fréjus — Sunday 26 April – rally — 10.30am–12.30pm — Boulevard de la Libération / Sablettes de la Caille beach roundabout
• Nice — Sunday 26 April – rally — 2.30pm–4.30pm – Place Masséna

Rousset Breeding Facility: Press release

Against animal experimentation, One Voice is mobilising across France with a focus on Rousset