World Day for Laboratory Animals on 24 April: moving towards the end of animal testing in Europe

Official figures are not so transparent…

According to official figures which have just been published, 1.6 million procedures were carried out on animals in France in 2020. There have therefore been less experiments than the previous year, but not less victims of animal testing despite that, because in 2020 the Covid epidemic led to absences in laboratories… and in these cases, the animals were killed. Yet in France, unlike almost all of Europe, the deaths of animals not experimented on have not been counted in animal testing figures.

A visualisation of the development of detailed figures by species on a dedicated website

The reuse of animals, severe pain, stress, etc. To help the general public to better understand the extent and the severity of animal testing, we have asked the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation to provide details of the annual declarations in order to genuinely improve transparency on the use of animals in laboratories in France. We will present the results in the form of an image to uncover and visualise the detailed figures and see their development as the years go by for the many species concerned.

Detailed figures website

Animal suffering in laboratories

The animals who are victims of these procedures spend their entire lives enclosed. It is nothing but bars, stress, terror, and suffering. They are used among other things for essential and applied research, as well as for toxicology testing.

According to Jeanne Mas, who will be there in Paris during our event on 23 April to testify to her solidarity with animals, this quotation from George Bernard Shaw resonates like no other:

«Atrocities are not less atrocious when they are happening in laboratories and when they are being called medical research.»

Yet two thirds of procedures involve significant suffering. Worse, almost 430,000 animals endure what we call ‘severe suffering’!

The parents or grandparents of many animals including primates are captured in the wild, transported in harmful conditions, and are destined for an existence of chain breeding with their young being systematically taken from them. Others are brought up in France (dogs from Mézilles and Gannat, mouse lemurs from the National Natural History Museum, fish), but many are from abroad (macaques from Mauritius or Indonesia… who can also pass through France via establishments like Silabe, linked to the University of Strasbourg). Some even come from zoos!

The law banning animal testing for cosmetics is in danger!

The ban on animal testing for cosmetics in the EU, voted in nine years ago after a long battle and an initial successful European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), is in danger. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) lobby is underway and is questioning this decision.

A new European Citizens’ Initiative which goes further to be signed and shared

This is why we have taken part in a new ECI to salvage cosmetics without testing on animals, but more generally to just stop animal testing in the EU! And we are being supported by our representatives on a European level: just a few months ago, Members of the European Parliament spoke in an historic vote to gradually put an end to animal testing in the European Union. Thus, although France has just exceeded its minimum number of signatures as part of the SaveCrueltyFreeCosmetics ECI, more than a million are needed for the whole of the EU. We therefore must continue to sign and get as many European citizens as possible to sign this ECI!

Sign the SaveCrueltyFreeCosmetics ECI

Our activists are leading measures to raise awareness in the field throughout France

Our activists will be present in numerous towns on 23 and 24 April (unspecified, the action is taking place on 23/04). Take a look at the national event and those for each town below.

Note: the locations and dates may be changed up until the last minute (authorisation by prefectures, weather…). Refer to each of them; they will be updated in real time.

At work on social networks too

If you would also like to take part in World Day for Laboratory Animals but you are not able to travel, here are the posts that you can use (and adapt) at your leisure on your social networks throughout 24 April to get the ECI signed.

• Today is #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories! Did you know that more than one million experiments are done on rats in the EU in one year? Stop this cruelty by signing the European Citizens’ Initiative: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories
• Animal testing in Europe must stop! 72% of EU Citizens would like to end this cruelty but the EU is turning a deaf ear. Let’s make this change! Sign for a cruelty-free EU: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• It is time to put an end to animal testing in Europe! We need YOU to add your signature so that these barbaric practices stop in the EU. Sign today: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• The animals need your help! Sign the European Citizens’ Initiative, join and share the campaign demanding that the EU puts an end to #AnimalTesting. To find out more: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• Distribute widely! I am asking the EU to put an end to animal testing in Europe. Join me by sharing this post and by signing: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• Animal testing is barbaric, costly, and ineffective. I am posting this message to show my support for a cruelty-free EU. Join me by signing and sharing http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• Throughout the EU, MILLIONS of animals are suffering from tests and experiments. Each signature counts for animals in Europe. Sign today to put an end to animal testing: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• 5 million experiments done in the EU involve what legislation deems “serious or moderate suffering” for the animals that are victims. Join me for a cruelty-free EU by signing: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal
• The countdown begins to put an end to #AnimalTesting in the EU! More than a million signatures are needed to stop tests on animals. Join me on #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories: sign http://savecrueltyfree.eu! #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories
• 11,194 experiments on primates in the space of just one year is 11,194 experiments too many. Today is #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories. Will you join me for a cruelty-free EU? Please sign and share: http://savecrueltyfree.eu #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #WorldDayforAnimalsinLaboratories

Translated from the French by Joely Justice