Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:37 am
The revision of the European animal experiments legislation is in the crucial final stage, and Members of the European Parliament have a final opportunity to improve the protection of animals used in laboratories across Europe. The Council of Ministers adopted its position and the second reading has started in the Parliament. The report will be prepared by AGRI Committee and voted in September.

Chief Executive of the ECEAE, Michelle Thew states: “The truth is that under this document animals will continue to be experimented on, in large numbers, for reasons which have nothing to do with finding cures for diseases – such as the safety testing of non-essential products and curiosity-driven research. We are extremely disappointed that an opportunity to improve animal welfare and place greater restrictions on animal experimentation has so far been lost. We urge MEPs to stand by their convictions.”

However we oppose all animal experiments on moral and scientific grounds the abolition through the EU is simply not possible at this time. What we need to do now is to demand from AGRI members to take a much stronger line and ensure that the future legislation introduces meaningful protection for animals.

You can help !!!

Please go to the site use the sample letter or wite your own and click on "AGRI members" (next to the green arrow) - there are MEPs addresses in blocks of 20.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:48 am
As some of you remember the revision has started 3 years ago and animals still wait for the regulations which should protect them!!!!
Some info:
In 1986 the European Council adopted Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. The Directive controls the use of laboratory animals within the EU but, now the directive is over 20 years old and desperately out of date.
On 28th May 2008, a Europe-wide petition signed by over 150,000 citizens and calling for urgent action to advance non-animal replacements through the revised Directive, was presented to the Petitions Committee by Dr Jane Goodall. The petition was supported by animal protection groups in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
(The petition has been launched in the UK with the support of Advocates for Animals, Animal Aid, Dr Hadwen Trust, Europeans for Medical Progress, PETA (Europe) and Uncaged).

Despite promises given by Commission, written declaration (September 2007) the proposal of revised directive (05.11.2008) didn't set a ban on primate experiments, didn't set any dates/terms to stop primate experiments and didn't set requirement of using available alternatives.

In 2009, AGRI Commission wrote amendments which removed from the proposal any progressive regulations and the research industry lobbied MEPs to resist meaningful improvements for animal welfare.

In 2010 the Council of Ministers has adopted its Position and contrary to all the rhetoric from politicians, if the document became the new law it would:

* severely weaken the existing rules about researchers having to use alternatives to animals wherever possible;
* mean that individual member states will not be able to adopt stricter animal protection rules in future, as public opinion and scientific knowledge develops;
* large numbers of animal experiments will not have to undergo proper scrutiny by governments.

BUAV accused European ministers of misleading the public over animal experiments law
ECEAE Chief Executive Michelle Thew states: "The rhetoric just does not match the reality. There is a huge gap between the impression given by the EC of what will now happen and the actual reality for the millions of animals who will continue to suffer and die in European laboratories. We are extremely disappointed that an opportunity to improve animal welfare and place greater restrictions on animal experimentation has so far been lost. The battle will now go back to the European Parliament."

What's more on 04.02.2010 the European Ombudsman launched investigation into a report by EU Commission

info: BUAV

The ECEAE (European Coalition to End Animal Experiments) of which the BUAV is the UK member, has welcomed an investigation launched by the European Ombudsman into a report by the European Commission on experiments on non-human primates (NHP). This follows a complaint submitted by the ECEAE that the Commission’s report is deeply scientifically flawed and biased in favour of NHP research.

The trade and use of primates in research within the EU is one of the controversial issues that is being considered in the revision of EU Directive 86/609 on the protection of animals used in experiments. The revision has reached its final stages; the Council of Ministers will soon adopt its position.

In a letter to the ECEAE dated 28th January 2010, the European Ombudsman states that the Commission has been asked to answer the following allegations made by the ECEAE:

* The Commission failed to ensure that the working group established by SCHER to issue the opinion had sufficient expertise in the area of non-human primate (NHP) research.
* The Commission failed to ensure that SCHER took due account of evidence supplied by interest groups about the efficacy of NHP research and alternatives to it.


Of course there are no outcomes yet....

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:50 am
More info on the website.
THANK YOU

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:53 am
Noted,thanks.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 4:21 am
Noted and thank you!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 4:27 am
letter sent, thanks

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:13 am
Thanks for telling the world

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:54 am
Emails sent to my four local MP. Thank you!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 6:56 am
Ok! I have already sent to my 3 MP, but tonight I will send to all those members. Thanks , Joanna, for making this action easier.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 7:23 am
Thank you for the info. noted and emails sent to my MEP's.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 7:38 am
Thanks Joanna. I'm taking action!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 8:08 am
Letters sent, thank you!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 9:33 am
Many thanks for your work on this Joanna.
Emails sent to all the addresses on your site.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 9:59 am
we are in the 21st centuary, haven;t we figured this one out yet...animal experiments don;t work, they are dangerous to humans as well as the awful pain they cause animals, before they are led to an early death...come on and join me at the 21st centuary where this doesn't happen

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 10:27 am
Noted and Thank You so much for posting my Beloved Joanna.
HAVE A VERY BLESSED TUESDAY EVERYBODY!
Much Love,
B.D♠

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 10:34 am
D O N E ! ! ! ! THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING AND SO SAD!!! THANK YOU DEAR JOANNA!!!!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 10:41 am
Thank you very much Joanna !!!

Thank You

The message has been sent to your MEP. Your support on this issue is appreciated. To recieve updates on this issue and more,

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 11:01 am
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I appreciate your concern Joanna, but I have come to realize, indeed I am *convinced*, of this very simple truth: as long as we support campaigns whose focus is on the *treatment* of the nonhumans we use, rather than their *continued use*, nothing will change.

As long as there is demand for the products of cruelty and exploitation, as in food, clothing, experimentation, and entertainment, we will never stem the tide.

We must all be consistently focused on educating each other, i.e. consumers, as to how we each must *think* of animals. Once the majority of people finally awake to the fact that animals are not our property to exploit for *any* reason, all use will finally fade away... because there will simply be *no demand*.

We have a moral obligation to not use animals. Educate others of that fact, read the logical arguments of Professor Gary L. Francione:

http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/
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Tuesday June 15, 2010, 11:02 am
All mails gladly sent Joanna!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 11:14 am
Thanks Joanna. Email sent....

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 11:28 am
Letters sent Thank You Joanna.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 12:00 pm
Jeffrey I'm sorry but I don't support any ideologies and I'm not interested in Francione's or Best's opinions first of all because I don't do what people tell me and secondly because they both thinks they are the only right and waste their time and energy on useless disputes while animals suffer.

There is no THE ONE or THE RIGHT way to save animals.
Because there is a lot to do in many areas.
I can educate people while persuade the politicians to change the law. Do Francione sees any problem in that?
And I'm not "welfarist" but be a realist - or we get the law which ban experiments on primates and require using alternatives or the directive will allow the research industry do what they want while we still will be dreaming about animal rigths.

Thanks Jeffrey I preffer act than discuss what is right. In this particular situation is too late to educate MEPs on animal research and you should know that there is no point to educate big pharmas about animal rights.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 1:32 pm
action taken TY Joanna
The message has been sent to your MEP. Your support on this issue is appreciated

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 2:08 pm
emails sent

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 2:42 pm
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I totally support your sentiments, Joanna.

As you say, "I can educate people *while* persuading the politicians to change the law."

My only point, to clarify what you mentioned later in your comment, I'm not concerned with educating big pharma either. But the *politicians* will only blow in the direction of prevailing (majority) public sentiment. So the more we educate *average* people, the more likely the politicians will change the laws... even to the point of abolishing *all* animal use.

The enemy, if you will, is not Big Pharma so much as it is our neighbours who don't possess the respect for animals and clarity of thought that we do.

Fight on.
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Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:07 pm
Thank you Joanna; noted and shared.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:10 pm
Jeffrey
"The enemy, if you will, is not Big Pharma so much as it is our neighbours who don't possess the respect for animals and clarity of thought that we do. "
I know it too well....

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:17 pm
Noted; writing.
God bless~

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 3:34 pm
Noted, and letters will be sent. Thank you Joanna.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:21 pm
Thanks,Noted! I am citizenship of two Europian coutries who have candidat statys for Eu, so I have not opportunity to send the letter:( But, good news -other countries from Europe , no Eu memeber- without labaratories for testing animals!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:28 pm
I may be from Canada but used a friends uk address and gladly sent my letter. Thank you Joanna.

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:44 pm
Thank You

The message has been sent to your MEP. Your support on this issue is appreciated.

Anyone can sign this!!
Tks Joanna

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 5:46 pm
I posted all members emails for you to use.
If you concernd about the animals who are suffering and being tortured in EU labs send the sample letter to all of them.
TY

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 6:59 pm
Done--wrote letters to MEPs in England!
God bless~

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 10:21 pm
Makes me want to scream. People are so evil and it just makes me sick. TY for bringing this to my attention. I hope this will be stopped throughout the whole world.

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 1:38 am
Done - Thank you!!!

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 3:07 am
Noted & Signed, TY
Thank You
The message has been sent to your MEP. Your support on this issue is appreciated.

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 3:52 am
The doctrine of right livelihood teaches Buddhists to avoid any work connected with the killing of animals The doctrine of karma teaches that any wrong behaviour will have to be paid for in a future life - so cruel acts to animals should be avoided Buddhists treat the lives of human and non-human animals with equal respect Buddhists see human and non-human animals as closely related. Experimenting on animals Buddhists say that this is morally wrong. So perhaps a Buddhist approach to experiments on animals might require the experimenter to: accept the karma of carrying out the experiment the experimenter will acquire bad karma through experimenting on an animal.

Buddhism considers all of life to be evolving toward higher consciousness. To the Buddhist, any practice by which man sustains himself at the expense of other sentient beings is considered wrong. Buddhism considers non-human life to be Divine just as is human life. Animals are seen to be an evolving kingdom of living creatures destined in time to attain perfect enlightenment. All of life is seen to be one. According to this conviction, to harm any living thing is to do injury to the One Eternal and Divine Life. Since animals are considered to be traveling towards enlightenment just as man is, neither are they to be harmed, discouraged or hampered in their progress.

To accept the Buddhist point of view is to have a new spirit of compassion for any form of life that is weak, helpless or hurt. The Buddhist is fully aware that life itself cannot be destroyed, but to him this does not justify destroying or harming the forms through which life is presently expressing. It is believed that we have no right to injure for any reason.

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 4:45 am
i emailed my m e p

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 5:12 am
Noted and although I'm Australian I call England home. However I haven't got anyone's address I can use! I wish I could write the letters though!!!!!

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 7:16 am
There is not only the link to ECEAE letter on the website - you can send to all AGRI members and you don't have to be EU citizen:

You can help !!!
It is vital that the influence of pro-vivisection industry lobbyists is countered by voices that speak out in defence of animals and for modern, cruelty-free research methods.
Email all AGRI members
Please use the sample letter adopted from ECEAE European Coalition to End Animal Experiments and use the list of MEPs addresses

AGRI members
of course you can write your own letter!!!
sample letter:
Revision of EC Directive 86/609 (animal experiments)
I am writing to you today in relation to the current revision of the Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used in experiments.
I understand that the second reading in the European Parliament has started and that MEPs have an opportunity to improve and clarify the Council of Ministers draft legislation.
I am opposed to animal experiments but I believe that the legislation should at the very least provide greater protection for animals used in experiments. For example, strong mechanisms should be introduced to oblige researchers to use non-animal alternatives methods whenever these are scientifically available, and not only if these are recognized by European Community legislation. The Council of Ministers position is here markedly different from, and worse than, the Parliament first reading position. Not only does it take a very long time before scientifically valid alternative methods are included in Community legislation, this only ever happens for safety testing, a relatively small part of animal experimentation..
Additionally, the Council proposal to allow non-human primates to be used in experiments for almost any purpose is, I believe, not what the European Parliament representatives initially agreed.
Finally, the Council position concerning the infliction of severe suffering on animals is very confusing. The Parliament agreed to an upper limit on permitted suffering and this now needs to be set out in a clear and meaningful way.
As elected representatives, I hope that you will reflect views of so many of your constituents at the European Parliament.
(your name)

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 11:07 am
i'l send these as well

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 2:13 pm
Here is one of the many places in Europe:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/stop-vivisection-at-the-university-of-bradford
http://www.facebook.com/vivsectionunibradford

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 3:51 pm
you mention a petition, where is it? truthfully, I did not want to look at your alert because I have had this problem in the past, also there is no need to show graphics, we know what is going on, and they depress me

Thursday June 17, 2010, 6:22 am
Thanks for all your hard work, Joanna.
Emails sent to all AGRI members.
Bradford petition signed on May 31.

Thursday June 17, 2010, 11:06 am
Letter sent. Thank you Joanna

Thursday June 17, 2010, 4:09 pm
TY Jo
Emails sent to all AGRI members and to a few from ECEAE site.

Thursday June 17, 2010, 5:18 pm
noted, sent all emails, shared on facebook.

Friday June 18, 2010, 1:33 am
No animal should suffer for the benifit of a human being - we should suffer for all the evil we have done to them.

Friday June 18, 2010, 1:46 am
I understand perfectly why there are groups of people who take the extreme measure to save animals. The only reason is that those cruel and evil humans dont want to listen to the outcry of animals asking for mercy and protection and freedom for crimes that they have not committed. There are too many bad people on this planet and if they can be destroyed I will not shed a tear. I cry for the animals.

Friday June 18, 2010, 3:22 am
Thanks dear friends.
You're so right Julie; the ignorants create a law which allow to torture and kill animals without any reason!!!! And the scum are responsible for the animal suffering not only those who perform the experiments.
In fact - since we aren't able to persuade our MEPs to change the law we are responsible as well.

Sunday June 20, 2010, 6:30 am
All letters sent thanks.

Wednesday June 23, 2010, 3:44 am
END ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS - KEEP UP THE FIGHT FOR ANIMALS WORLD WIDE FOLKS

Sunday June 27, 2010, 3:23 pm
Noted, emailed all AGRI members, will send the rest of emails asap!

Wednesday June 30, 2010, 6:19 pm
BUAV disappointment as MEPs get ready to back an ineffective provisional new EU law on animal testing

The BUAV, as a member of the ECEAE (European Coalition to End Animal Experiments) has criticised Members of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee for missing an opportunity to discuss key issues on the future law on the protection of animals used in laboratories. At the meeting which took place on 28th June, Ms Elisabeth Jegge (Rapporteur for the Parliament) qualified the compromise agreed with the Council of Ministers as balanced yet imperfect.

The revision of Directive 86/609/EEC started in November 2008 with the publication of the European Commission proposal, which included reasonable provisions in favour of more animal protection. After 18 months of negotiations, most of the strongest proposals have been considerably weakened. Yet, the Rapporteur and other committee members insisted that the draft law was the best compromise possible.

The BUAV disagrees with this. Only one representative of this committee raised concerns over the agreement: Jill Evans, member of the Green Party, noted that the current draft still does not restrict the use of non-human primates, does not allow researchers to use non-animal alternative methods when these are immediately available, and does not allow individual member states to go further than the future legislation. The Rapporteur did not address these issues, and recommended MEPs to avoid tabling amendments to this draft instead.

The agreement is to be voted in mid-July by Agriculture Committee members before a vote in plenary in September.

The BUAV and ECEAE will continue to monitor the revision process and encourage MEPs to address the key issues before the votes.

29th June 2010

Thursday July 1, 2010, 11:42 pm
>:(

Sunday July 4, 2010, 9:43 am
The link does not work in Switzerland. Sorry!

Wednesday July 7, 2010, 5:46 am
It's incomprehensible how human beings can torture our fellow creatures for the most insane reasons! Animal testing doesn't provide the scientists with inputs/outcomes which can be transferred on to humans. Why are stil clinical testings necessary? Because of the fact that the results from animal testing are unreliable!
EU parliament members are highly pay by EU tax payers and they are obliged to act as the tax payers requests them to!
Those EUrocrates are committed to their citizens request and wishes and NOT committed to any laboratory or other company. The latter would be called corruption - rightly so!
PM act NOW once and for all!
Abolish any animal testing NOW!

Wednesday July 7, 2010, 3:17 pm
signed and noted. wish i could do more.

Friday July 9, 2010, 5:56 pm
Emails sent to MEPs, will work my way through others.

Tuesday July 13, 2010, 4:02 pm
Signed and hopefully they will be read