The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling on the Federal Government to implement the animal welfare policy promises made in the coalition agreement. This includes the promise to present a reduction strategy for animal testing during the legislative period and to strengthen the research and implementation of alternatives. It has now been announced that funds amounting to one million euros are to be made available for the first time in the 2024 budget for the announced strategy. A further million has been earmarked for subsequent budgets. The main aim of the funds is to establish animal-free methods*.
"It is very welcome that the government has recognized the problem and is providing funds to specifically reduce animal testing - even if this is only a first step," commented Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. "The promised strategy should not only aim to reduce animal testing, but to phase it out completely. We expect that animal-free science will be given top priority in the future in order to initiate the overdue phase-out in the remaining two years of the legislative period."
REMOVING BARRIERS TO ANIMAL-FREE ALTERNATIVES
Animal testing is still regarded as the supposed gold standard in research and science. "They have become established because there was a lack of alternatives in the past, animals were simply readily available and other ethical standards applied," explains Tilo Weber, expert on alternative methods to animal testing at the German Animal Welfare Federation. More than half of the 1.86 million animals recently used in experiments are used in basic research. In the view of the German Animal Welfare Federation, it is therefore essential to prioritize animal-free methods in the allocation of funding and to create attractive financial incentives for scientists who are working on replacing animal experiments. It must also be made clear that experiments on animals should be rejected not only from an ethical but also from a scientific point of view: "The results are difficult to transfer to humans, as animals differ, for example, in their way of life and duration, physique, metabolism, genetic make-up or immune system response," says Weber. This - as well as the use of animal-free methods - must also be a topic in training and teaching in the future.
Existing barriers to animal-free methods must also be removed in legally prescribed tests for risk assessment, for example of chemicals. "Very high and sometimes unrealistic standards are applied here for the acceptance of animal-free tests. Often, even good, operational animal-free methods are not applied promptly because the legal framework conditions do not allow this, because those responsible are not aware of them or because the technical or personnel requirements are not met. Sometimes even promising approaches are not developed further because funding for follow-up projects or recognition procedures is lacking or not possible," criticizes animal rights activist Weber.
* Source: Press release by Dr. Zoe Mayer, MP (Alliance 90/The Greens) on the funding of an animal welfare reduction strategy from 29.09.2023
Note to editors: With the current campaign "Now more animal welfare!", the German Animal Welfare Federation reminds the current federal government of its promises from the coalition agreement - including the presentation of a reduction strategy for animal experiments and the strengthening of animal-free alternatives: www.jetzt-mehr-tierschutz.de/tierversuche
