Mobilization of One Voice against the air transport of monkeys destined for animal experimentation and the role of Air France in particular
By
an action of protest organized this August 30th,
One Voice reiterates its call to Air France to put an end to the
aerial transportation of monkeys intended for the laboratories. The
association is launching a mobilization campaign against these
transports imposed on primates, who are piled into the hold of the
plane under the feet of holidaymakers on regular flights …
According
to the information gathered by the association and its partners (One
Voice represents in France the ECEAE, European Coalition against
Animal Testing), 120 long-tailed macaques were sent by Air France
from Mauritius to Chicago (United States USA), via Paris, April 26th,
2017. The monkeys, from a local breeder were piled into wooden
crates, then transported on the AF 463 and AF 6730 flights: nearly 16
000 km, enduring a 30 hours flight before arriving at Charles River
Laboratories. This Lavatory performs preclinical toxicology tests on
animals for pharmaceutical, chemical or agrochemical products.
Air
France is the last major airline in the world to accept this type of
freight from Mauritius, but also from the main exporting countries of
Southeast Asia. In 2016, some 8,425 monkeys were exported from
Mauritius to laboratories in Europe and North America.
Internationally, this trade in animal life involves tens of thousands
of individuals according to CITES (Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wildlife) and long-tailed monkeys (Macaca
fascicularis) are the first victims.
In the name of science ?
Torn
from their families and imprisoned in tiny wooden boxes, suffering in
the dark, cold and noisy hold of a plane, these intelligent and
sensitive animals are destined to spend the rest of their lives in
metal cages and to be subjected to painful experiments. Some supply
routes from the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean or Asia, involve journeys
of several tens of hours, under terrible conditions for animals,
handled like ordinary goods: separated from their own kind, confined
in narrow cages, with no access to water or food. Experiencing
uncompromising exposure to changes in temperature, humidity, light,
pressure, noise and vibration during travel, and the stress of
taking-off and landing.
Several
times questioned by One Voice, including letters signed by the famous
primatologist Jane Goodall, Air France remains in hiding behind the
authorization and regulations in force to justify this activity. The
company is even the spokesperson for their clients, the laboratories,
ensuring that animal experiments on primates are necessary for
scientific advances.
One
Voice points out here that the European Commission has, however,
recognized its objective, eventually, the replacement of animal
testing by other research methods. The association, which itself
promotes humane alternatives based on epidemiology, computer models
and in vitro experiments, refutes that the scientific community is
unanimous on an inescapable need for animal experimentation. And
remember that 8 out of 10 French people are opposed to
experimentation on primates, according to an Ipsos / One Voice poll
conducted in December 2016.
For
a new model, without animal suffering
According
to Dr. Gill Langley, biologist: “Trade to laboratories around
the world is an important source of stress, suffering and death for
these animals. They are raised in their countries of origin under
conditions that would not be tolerated in the European Union. […]
Keeping confined wild primates inevitably leads to psychological, if
not physical suffering.“
Citing
a variety of scientific studies, Dr. Langley notes that the abnormal
behaviours and high levels of stress that primates develop during
rearing, air transport and laboratory manipulation are factors that
can distort experimentation results.
Muriel Arnal, President of One
Voice, calls on Air France management: “In June 2017, Jean-Marc
Janaillac, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air France-KLM,
signed a declaration on modern day slavery. Based on the principles
of the UN Global Impact Charter, Air France is committed to fighting
all forms of slavery and human trafficking. We invite it to go
further: we must stop these primate transports intended for
laboratories all over the world. The suffering caused by the
uprooting and transport by long-haul of these living beings so close
to us is immense. Justifying these practices with so-called
scientific advances no longer holds: modern science and human health
do not need monkeys to make progress, but many new replacement models
are available which are ethical and responsible !“
Very
committed to the field of animal experimentation, One Voice, launches
a new campaign on this theme – relayed on social networks by the
hashtag #PasDeSingesEnSoute – and publishes on its website
(www.one-voice.fr) a report unpublished entitled “Replacing the use of non-human primates in research and safety testing in France: improving science and ending suffering“.
This
document describes the state of research currently conducted in
France on nonhuman primates, examples highlighting the limits of this
model for human health, new approaches and associated case studies,
from around the world.
One
Voice also invites each citizen, user or not of the company, to
directly address a protest message to the Air France-KLM general
management.