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European Commission seeks a 'scientific opinion' on primate research
Recently, the Directorate-General for the Environment requested a ‘scientific opinion’ – eg a report about a) the importance of using primates in research, b) the possibility of replacing the use of primates in research and testing and c) the effect of limiting or banning the use of primates in the EU. Within the European Commission, DG Environment is responsible for the revision of the animal experimentation directive.
This report has clearly been commissioned in response to the 2007 European Parliament Written Declaration calling for a timetable for the replacement of primate experiments. DG Environment released a firm rejection to the declaration, but knows that this will be a central issue in the revision of the directive, so they are seeking to back it up with a clear, scientifically-based statement about the continuing need for primate research.
They have asked the Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks to produce the opinion. This committee is composed of experts in toxicology and environmental health. They will be familiar with the use of primates in certain areas of toxicology but not in the majority of research fields in which they are used.
Fortunately, their procedure requires a consultation phase (which closed on June 6th) during which they called for peer-reviewed publications and authoritative scientific statements on the subject. Many European scientific organisations and scientists responded with information. In addition, the committee’s procedures require them to perform literature searches.
DG Environment has asked for the report by the end of October 2008, but experience suggests that it may well not be delivered until two or three months later.