Replacing animals (From The Oxford Times)
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Replacing animals
6:00am Thursday 26th February 2009 in
Sir – Now that the construction of the Oxford Animal Lab is complete, it is time to move on from the controversy surrounding the lab to an open and educated debate on the future of animal testing.
The European Parliament is preparing to debate a revision of Directive 86/609 governing animal experimentation. With growing support among MEPs and European citizens for the replacement of animal testing, this is long overdue. Even the European Commission has a stated commitment to replacing, reducing and refining approaches to animal testing.
As an MEP, I want to make sure that the EU overhauls its out-of-date laws on animal testing. Europe needs to establish a world-leading Centre of Excellence in non-animal research to speed up the development of new techniques, moving away from outdated and cruel animal research and bringing a new era of modern science without animal suffering.
On Thursday, March 5, I will be speaking at a public meeting in Oxford entitled ‘Replacing Animals in Research: What’s Happening in Europe?’. I will be joined by the President of the Eurogroup for Animals, and the Policy Director of the Dr Hadwen Trust, the UK leader in non-animal medical research.
The meeting is organised by Voice for Ethical Research at Oxford (VERO); a University-based group. It is being held at the Friends Meeting House, in St Giles, and starts at 7pm. It is open to everyone, not just members of the University. I hope to see as many people as possible at the meeting.
Dr Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for the South East, Vice-President, EU Cross-Party Animal Welfare Group, Vice-President, RSPCA
Comments(2)
AR2048
says...
10:39pm Fri 27 Feb 09
The fact is that, due to tiny, tiny genetic variations between individuals of the SAME species, some humans will get a cancer, or heart disease or CF etc etc...
also, a drug/treatment which helps one person can harm or even kill another person...hence the saying 'every prescription is a clinical trial'.
I would ask people if they really do support randomly harming and killing some humans for the intended medical benefit of other humans....because that IS what is happening with vivisection.
Kevin Elliott and the vivisection-support group Pro-test are apparently content with that situation but thankfully many scientists, medical professionals and members of the public are not.
People have a choice to make - vivisection or scientific, human-relevant research.
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Kevin_Elliott says...
6:20pm Fri 27 Feb 09
However, there’s a growing awareness in the disability community that both the medical and social models are relevant when considering inclusion for disabled people. Some disabilities are difficult or impossible to deal with just using the social model.
For instance, it isn’t possible to treat severe pain by “removing barriers”. No matter what people’s attitudes are, no matter what social support or disability aids are available, pain remains pain. Modern treatments, many derived from animal research, can help reduce pain, improving the qualilty of life for many disabled people.
The social model complements the medical model. It doesn’t replace it.
If the Greens have this attitude to the medical model of disability, can we really trust them on animal research?