The German Animal Welfare Federation fears that the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) has caved in to parts of the scientific community and that the reduction strategy for animal experiments may no longer be implemented. The German Animal Welfare Association and other interest groups, including from the scientific community, had been involved in the strategy promised by the federal government, which is still in office, in the coalition agreement. A publication was planned for the International Day of Laboratory Animals on April 24. Together with other animal welfare organizations, the German Animal Welfare Federation has appealed to the current Federal Minister Cem Özdemir to complete the development of the strategy and get it off the ground.
"We need a paradigm shift towards animal-free and sustainable science. The reduction strategy is an important step towards a sustainable reduction in the number of laboratory animals. Not only does Germany fulfill its obligation to the national goal of animal welfare, it also strengthens Germany as a location and makes it competitive in terms of innovation, business and industry," says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. The long-term goal must be a science that enables advanced biomedical research, safety testing and training without the use of animals and with the help of new technologies.
PROGRESS THROUGH ANIMAL-FREE SCIENCE
Media reports this week revealed that some neuroscientists are distancing themselves from the reduction strategy that they themselves helped to develop and want to use a questionable campaign to promote greater social acceptance of animal testing. Agreement on the strategy therefore seems unlikely.
"The federal government, which is still in office, is in danger of failing on another promise from the coalition agreement. If the reduction strategy fails to materialize due to pressure from the animal testing lobby, this would be a fatal setback for animal welfare in Germany and a black day for millions of animals that suffer and die in experiments. It is the task of the BMEL to build bridges and to remain in contact. Progress and animal welfare or animal-free science are not competing interests, but can inspire each other," said Schröder. Many researchers are already working with animal-free methods out of conviction and would clearly welcome the publication and implementation of the reduction strategy on animal testing.
URGENT NEED FOR ACTION DESPITE DECREASING NUMBERS OF ANIMALS IN EXPERIMENTS
Although the number of animals used in experiments has fallen slightly in Germany in recent years, there is an urgent need for action - at a social, scientific and legal level. Germany ranks second in the EU in terms of the number of animals used in animal experiments: in 2023, 1,456,562 animals were used in animal experiments and a further 671,958 animals were killed in order to use their organs or tissue for scientific purposes. 1,373,173 animals were killed as so-called surplus animals.
Note to editors:
In its “Guide to Animal-Free Science”, in which the German Animal Welfare Association shows the variety and possibilities of animal-free methods, researchers who are committed to science without animal experiments and have developed alternative methods or work with them have their say. You can download the “Guide to animal-free science” here: www.tierschutzbund.de/wegweiser-tierversuchsfreie-wissenschaft. All interviews with the researchers can be found here.
