The use of animals for the needs of industry and research
Every year, to test products 2.2 million animals are victims of experimentation. Rodents, rabbits, dogs, felines, primates and other animals are gassed, burned, pierced or blinded for the needs of industry or basic research. One Voice does not tolerate such actions on sentient beings, which are feeling pain and experiencing emotions.
Focus on animal experimentation in France
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The main sectors of activity using animal experimentation
- Food industry: Animals ingest products such as dyes to observe their metabolism and the elimination of chemicals.
- Pharmaceuticals: There is no regulation that mandates the testing of new primate drugs in the world's three largest economic sectors (the European Union, the United States and Japan). However, regulatory authorities prefer that the second species selected for testing drugs is the dog or a primate species such as the macaque.
- Cleaning products: When the results are predictive, tests are made on rodents to study the effects of chemicals on health and the human body and this to protect themselves from consumer claims.
- Basic research: The use of macaques in basic research has purely theoretical objectives.
To learn more, read our report:
Toxicity tests: cruel and unnecessary practices
In India and Israel, animal testing for cleaning products is prohibited. We cannot say the same in Europe. While since March 11, 2013, animal testing is banned for the cosmetics sector, those made for cleaning products continue.
The latest statistics, from 2011 and published in 2013, reveal that in Europe, a thousand rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice are used to test a finished product; and several thousand more for each of the ingredients of a product.
The main damage observed in rodents and rabbits is allergies, skin and eye corrosion, as well as foetal and fertility impacts.
- Skin tests: practiced mainly on guinea pigs and rabbits, skin tests are performed after hair removal. The product is applied to the skin. The test can cause irritation and corrosion, not to mention the pain felt during hair removal. Yet an alternative exists. DPRA "Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay" is a method that recreates the human epidermis to perform the tests. Closer to the skin of humans, the results are more reliable than those made on animals.
- The ocular tests: practiced on rabbits, the ocular tests consist in applying during 3 weeks products on the eyes: a real ordeal for these animals! Scientists, however, have human tissues similar to corneal epithelium, thanks to which they can obtain more conclusive results than those generated by animal experimentation.
- Reproductive tests: this experience is cruel. Rats and rabbits ingest products before procreation. The males are then killed, while the females and their litters will be executed after the birth. However, there are in vitro methods for studying the mechanisms of reproductive toxicity more effective than animal testing.
Investigation of a primate farm in Cambodia
Our association conducted an investigation in Cambodia in 2008 in a farm of long-tailed macaques or crab-eating macaques (Macaca Fascicularis). Created by Chinese impetus, these farms are used to supply major research laboratories including a large centre of French primatology.
A growing industry
First raised in Cambodia, the animals are then sold in the United States, France or China. In 2006, according to CITES, more than 6,000 monkeys were sent to the Far East and 2,500 to North America. In 2007, 9,500 were exported from Cambodia.
Macaques caught in the wild
Macaques are now listed in Appendix II by CITES, listing "species that, although not necessarily threatened with extinction, could become so if trade in their specimens is not tightly controlled".
Yet, our investigators have found that the breeders mainly used sexually mature females caught in the wild, to ensure a rapid rate of reproduction, renew the "stock" and maintain a high genetic diversity.
Macaque hunting: a brutal capture
Organized during the rainy season, the capture of monkeys takes place in a flooded forest. In a canoe, hunters locate a group of individuals in a tree. They put a net all over the surface and under the water. After cutting branches so that the monkeys have no way out, the hunters hit the trunk of the tree to scare the primates. Distraught they jump or fall into the water: some are caught in the net, others die from drowning.
Brutally manipulated, the primates are then placed in tight mesh bags and stored at the bottom of the boat in the dark and without any freedom of movement. They stay there for several days, without water or food until the end of the hunt and are then returned to the village.
Miserable prison conditions
Primates are locked in tiny cages and have no environmental enrichment or nearby water points to drink from. Our investigators saw female’s breastfeeding their young, other babies despite their age had been separated from their mothers; some toys were given to them to try to reassure them. These living conditions cause significant trauma to these intelligent and social animals. These little ones will not be able to develop normal behavioural patterns, if they survive...
