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Directive sent to Agriculture Committee
After the European Commission published its proposal for a new directive regulating animal experimentation in the EU, it was sent to the European Parliament for its first reading. Within the parliament, such proposals are referred to a committee for detailed consideration and it was widely expected that this one would be sent to the Environment Committee, because that committee had dealt with everything to do with animal experimentation for the last ten years or more. The news that it had been assigned to the Agriculture Committee came shortly before Christmas. At the same time it was reported that the Rapporteur was Neil Parrish, the chairman of the committee. Although unexpected, this is probably quite a good thing. The Agriculture Committee is regarded as being realistic and pragmatic. It is responsible for an area where using animals is normal and correct, and it is experienced at balancing the interests of those using animals with the concerns of the animal protection movement.To illustrate the difference between the two committees, we can consider the 2007 written declaration calling for primate research to be phased out, which was proposed by 5 MEPs. Three of them were members and one a substitute member of the Environment Committee. None of them were members of the Agriculture Committee. Forty three members of the Environment Committee signed that written declaration, but only twenty five members of the Agriculture Committee.