Spare the apes. That鈥檚 the message from the Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Last week, 433 of 626 MEPs signed a and non-human primates in Europe.
The declaration is not legally binding, but it is a barometer of opinion and must be formally taken into account by officials drawing up legislation in the European Commission (EC). 鈥淚t sends an incredibly powerful message to the commission, who are currently reviewing rules for animal experiments across Europe,鈥� says Animal Defenders International, the London and San Francisco-based lobby group that championed the declaration.
Later this year, the EC is due to update and redraft a 21-year-old directive that regulates animal experiments. At present, it allows experiments on all non-human primates, although the UK unilaterally banned experiments on great apes in 1997. Europe currently conducts tests on around 10,000 non-human primates each year.
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