Animal experimentation: what our report on laboratory inspections reveals
One Voice has obtained and carefully analyzed no fewer than 567 inspection reports drawn up between 2013 and 2023 in 67 French departments where animals are experimented on. Massive irregularities, projects implemented before even receiving the necessary authorizations, sanctions not applied… These documents reveal the reality of animal experimentation: in addition to suffering under the scalpels, the animals used are not even adequately protected by the rare safeguards provided by regulations. We are calling for firmer checks on laboratories and greater transparency, as obtaining these documents has been a struggle in its own right*.
In France, laboratories must undergo mandatory prefectoral inspections every three years on average, and even every year for those using primates, dogs or cats. This should enable the identification of any breaches of the regulations governing these practices, and force the offending establishments to rectify them… in theory. The reality is quite different.
Endless irregularities
To gain access to these 567 inspection reports, we had to fight, claiming through the courts what the authorities should have provided on simple request. Faced with the conclusions of these visits, often scheduled in advance, it is easy to understand why the animal experimentation lobby defends its opacity tooth and nail, and rubs its hands at court rulings limiting this transparency.
Quarantine periods not respected when animals arrive in laboratories, cages too small, stress not taken into account… What happens to victims in these establishments, even before they undergo the slightest experiment, clearly deviates from current “welfare” standards. Is this really that surprising? When we know that the staff who work there don’t even meet the meagre obligation of instruction to which they are bound? With years of missed training and out-of-date skills tracking charts, it’s hardly surprising that the suffering of individuals destined for tiled lab benches is also taken lightly…
Without sanctions, nothing changes for animals
What happens when such violations are detected? The vast majority of the time, absolutely nothing. Animals coming from unapproved farms, without the slightest derogation? No problem. In several cases of non-compliance of this kind, we have not found the slightest trace of a conviction. Some laboratories lock up more than five mice in a plastic box the size of half an A4 sheet? No matter! They won’t be punished for it, just like the Institut Pasteur.
So the illegalities continue… as we denounced, for example, in the case of the monkeys exploited at SILABE. When the certification of the Strasbourg primatology center was cancelled, the unspeakable conditions in which they were held were ignored… It was the procedural error that tipped the scale…
France must finally catch up
With far fewer inspections than other European Union countries, and unannounced visits revealing more violations than planned visits, France confirms its position as one of Europe’s bad pupils. When you consider that many projects are implemented before being validated by the Ministry, and without even having received the opinion of an ethics committee – an entity largely lacking in impartiality and independence – you can only measure the aberration! This cruel farce, for which animals are paying the price, must stop.
We demand:
- The introduction of two controls per year, with a minimum of 50% unannounced inspections, and real sanctions.
- That the French inspection system be monitored by the European Commission.
- A ban on the “euthanasia” of animals by any method other than overdosing with anaesthetic, except in exceptional cases justified on veterinary grounds and strictly in the interest of the animal concerned, with a detailed report.
- Prohibition of killing for practical reasons without any experimental interest, except in the case of medical euthanasia, whether the animals are used or born and kept without having been experimented on.
- Inspection reports to be made available on request, as already provided for by law.
Sign and share our petitions for animals that are victims of animal experimentation!
* We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Nicolas Marty, our former colleague (from 2022 to 2024), who made available to One Voice numerous documents obtained after procedures he had initiated prior to his employment. He has since founded the Animal Experimentation Observatory.