One Voice fait entendre la voix des primates de Rousset au Parlement européen
Europe is drawing up a roadmap to phase out animal testing. At the same time, France plans to triple the number of cages at the Rousset primatology centre in the Bouches-du-Rhône. This absurdity was at the heart of our statement on 9 July before the ‘Animal Welfare and Protection’ group of the European Parliament.
Instead of clinging to an outdated and cruel model, shouldn’t France – the EU member state that carries out the most animal testing – also be the first country in Europe to fund animal-free alternatives?
This crucial question was at the heart of the debates in the European Parliament on 9 July. Our aim: to alert MEPs to the dangers of the proposed expansion of the Rousset primate breeding facility, at a time when the European Commission has just published its roadmap to end animal testing on 1 June.
Investing today in laboratory primate breeding amounts to perpetuating an outdated model
Every new facility makes it even more difficult to phase out these practices, due to the equipment funded and the jobs created that depend on them. This is all the more true given that this expansion project involves a colossal investment of 30 million euros of public money from the ‘France 2030’ plan, which is in fact intended to support innovation and the ecological transition. This decision is in complete contradiction not only with the initial ambitions, but also with the expectations of the public and those of a growing section of the scientific community itself.
Continued capture and importation
Even if expanded, the Rousset breeding facility would only account for around 35 per cent of French experiments. Hundreds of primates will still be imported from Mauritius and Asia. Our undercover investigations carried out in 2023 with our local partners have shown that captures in the wild continue to fuel the industry. Torn from their families and their forests, transported thousands of kilometres, these sentient beings – with exceptional social, emotional and cognitive abilities – are paying a heavy price. Beyond the suffering endured by the individual animals, these imports increase the risk of zoonoses – diseases transmissible from animals to humans, such as tuberculosis.
1.2 million European citizens have spoken up
A lack of transparency, a waste of public money, health risks, the continuation of cruel and obsolete experiments… By pressing ahead with this project, France is sending a disastrous signal to the international community, one that threatens the European roadmap adopted – need we remind you – in response to the massive mobilisation of 1.2 million citizens through the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save cruelty – Free Cosmetics – Commits to a Europe without animal testing’, launched in 2021 across 22 countries. In France, the population has also spoken out, with 93 per cent opposing the Rousset project.
Every euro invested in new cages is one euro less for the medical alternatives of tomorrow. Primates do not belong in laboratories or in the cages in Rousset. By making their voices heard in the European Parliament, One Voice is exposing the infamous Rousset project to the whole of Europe.
Watch our filmed statement on the intergroup’s website.
One Voice gives the primates of Rousset a voice in the European Parliament
9 July 2026 – One Voice denounces the proposed expansion of the Rousset primate breeding facility in the European Parliament