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50% target not adopted
Recently there has been discussion of a target of a 50% reduction in the number of animals used for scientific purposes in the European Union (EU) by the year 2000. However, in all references to this target, its exact status has been unclear. Is it Official EU policy? Is it part of European legislation? What force does this target have and what action should be taken? What will happen when, inevitably, the target is not achieved? To provide answers to these questions, we have analysed the relevant documentation from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers and now present this report on the official status of the 50% target.
The 50% target is included in a document entitled "Towards Sustainability: A European Community Programme of Policy and Action in Relation to the Environment and Sustainable Development" which was produced by Directorate-General XI of the Commission in 1992. This document was also called the Fifth Environmental Action Programme. The EU has produced four previous such Action Programmes, but this one was much more comprehensive then its predecessors. The document focused on five target areas: industry, energy, transport, agriculture and tourism. Each section included a series of targets to be achieved by the year 2000. With respect to industry, the report included a chapter on the Management of Risks and Accidents. This section listed 39 targets, including "50% reduction in the number of vertebrate animals used for experimental purposes". The text of the document makes no reference to this target at all.
This means that the 50% target was not adopted by the EU. Like all the other targets in the document, it was merely noted and it is not part of EU law. In the absence of any starting date with which to compare the number of animals used for scientific purposes in the EU in the year 2000, it is impossible to tell whether the target has been achieved or not. However, the first set of EU statistics on animal experimentation relate to the year 1991 and it seems inevitable that this will be taken as the starting point for the comparison.
The political process within the EU is that, after a period of internal consultation, the European Commission produces a draft directive, which is then sent to the European Parliament for debate. The Parliament will produce a report proposing various amendments to the draft directive which is sent back to the Commission. In most cases, the Commission is under no obligation to adopt any of these amendments, although it may do so if it wishes. The Commission then sends the draft directive to the EU Council of Ministers. This Council is composed of all the relevant government ministers from each Member State. The Council of Ministers is the body within the EU which actually decides whether or not to adopt the draft directive into EU law. When the draft is passed by the Council of Ministers it becomes a directive.
The 50% target was included in the original draft of the "Towards Sustainability" document produced by the European Commission which was sent to the European Parliament for debate. Just how it came to be incorporated in that original draft is unclear. The report on this document produced by the European Parliament in November 1992 welcomed the whole initiative but made no comment about the 50% target.
However, when the "Towards Sustainability" document went to Council of Ministers in February 1993, the text of their decision stopped short of complete approval of everything it proposed. With respect to the many targets contained in the document, their decision was to, "note the objectives, targets, actions and time-frames indicated in the programme, and consider that these constitute a useful start in moving towards sustainable development;"
In effect this means that the 50% target (and all the other targets) were not adopted by the EU, but merely noted. The Secretariat of the Council of Ministers has confirmed that this is the correct interpretation of the decision.
The same Council decision also invited the Commission to "come forward with appropriate proposals to give effect to the programme insofar as it pertains to action at a Community level;". This means that any initiative to adopt the 50% target would require the Commission to produce a proposal for legislation, which would have to go through the normal process of consultation, referral to the European Parliament and approval by the Council of Ministers. There are currently no proposals for any new EU legislation relating to animal experimentation.
In effect, this means that the target for a 50% reduction in the numbers of vertebrate animals used for experimental purposes in the EU by the year 2000 has no force at all. This is welcome news, since the whole idea of numerical targets for reducing animal experimentation is extremely unwise. Targets could only be selected on an arbitrary basis and would undoubtably hinder important research and drive industry out of the EU. The approach taken by all institutions and governments dealing with this issue (as opposed to those protesting against it) is based on the three R's of Russell and Burch. By promoting the refinement of animal experimental procedures, the reduction of the numbers of animals used to the minimum needed for valid results and the replacement of animal experiments with non-animals systems wherever possible, this approach maximises the welfare of laboratory animals whilst not impeding medical research and testing.
References
- Commission of the European Communities, Towards Sustainability March 1992 COM(92) 23
- European Parliament Resolution of 17 November 1992
- Official Journal No C 138, 17.5.1993, p1