After the German Animal Welfare Federation, together with the Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), the Eurogroup for Animals and other animal welfare organizations, filed a complaint with the European Free Trade Association's supervisory authority ESA, Iceland responded to a warning letter from ESA and suspended a special regulation for horse blood farms. The German Animal Welfare Federation welcomes the fact that Iceland is thereby fulfilling its obligations to protect animals. The background to this is the illegal blood collection from pregnant mares to obtain the hormone Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG), also known as Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG). PMSG is used for economic reasons to make work easier and to increase performance, especially in breeding sows, but also in other farm animals.
"It is encouraging that our perseverance has paid off. Iceland must now ensure that the practice of taking blood from pregnant mares, which is contrary to animal welfare, is stopped. We will continue to monitor events and keep up the pressure where necessary," commented Andrea Mihali, horse expert at the German Animal Welfare Federation.
ANIMAL TESTING DIRECTIVE MUST BE APPLIED
Legally speaking, blood sampling for the production of medicines is classified as animal testing. Iceland's legislation on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes is subject to corresponding EU legislation, as Iceland is part of the European Economic Area. Blood sampling, which was previously carried out without a permit application, must be terminated by October 5, 2023. From November 1, it must be checked in advance in an approval procedure whether alternative animal-free means exist for achieving the desired effect. If this is the case, the animal experiment may not be approved. "As there are numerous veterinary medicinal products on the market that have either the same or a comparable hormonal effect as PMSG, an application for approval would have to be rejected in this case," says Mihali.
ANIMAL-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES FOR PMSG IN PIG BREEDING
The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling for a ban on the production and use of PMSG and the German Veterinary Association (BTK) also recommends avoiding the use of PMSG in future in a statement from August 2023. While the BTK also cites other hormones as biotechnical alternatives, the German Animal Welfare Federation makes it clear that their PMSG-like effect causes an equally unnatural and health-damaging increase in performance in breeding sows. "Zootechnical measures such as more animal-friendly husbandry conditions are the only acceptable alternative to PMSG in pig breeding," comments Melanie Dopfer, specialist for animals in agriculture at the German Animal Welfare Federation.
