Home » Bulletin 2004
European Food Safety Authority to look at Revision of Directive 86/609
Key questions about revising the Directive on animal experimentation have been passed to the EFSA.
The Animal Health and Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Authority has set up a working party to look at a number of issues that could be addressed in the revision of Directive 86/609 on "the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes". The working party will be chaired by Professor David Morton of Birmingham University in the United Kingdom.
Dr Beatrice Lucaroni of the Directorate-General for Research, Technology and Development told a recent meeting organised by EFPIA, the European pharmaceutical industry association, that the working party had been asked to look at whether the use of invertebrates in research and testing should be covered by the new Directive, to what extent fetal and embryonic forms of animals should be included, the most appropriate methods of euthanasia and which experimental animals should be purpose-bred. It is understood that working party members would like to comment on other areas as well.
The working party is not expected to report before June 2005, following which it could take several months for a draft of the new Directive to be prepared. After further internal consultations on the draft, the Commission would publish it for a stakeholder consultation. Observers believe that there is little political impetus to speed up the process either inside the Commission or the European Parliament
Both industry and patient representatives have called for a detailed impact assessment on how the proposed new Directive would affect both health in the EU and European competitiveness.