Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[**Avis juridique important**](../../../editorial/legal_notice.htm)

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# 91997E2924

**WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2924/97 by Patricia McKENNA to the Commission. Laboratory rodents** 
  
*Official Journal C 117 , 16/04/1998 P. 0102*

  

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2924/97 by Patricia McKenna (V) to the Commission (17 September 1997)

Subject: Laboratory rodents

A recent report by Michael Festing of Britain's Medical Research Council's toxicology unit at the University of Leicester has shown how thousands of laboratory rodents are being sacrificed each year in toxicity tests which are scientifically flawed.

Has the Commission studied this report?

What proposals does the Commission have to phase out the use of animals in toxicity tests and to facilitate the development of alternatives to animal testing?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (23 October 1997)

The work to which the Honourable Member refers is well known. It shows that toxicology studies often involve the use of unnecessarily large numbers of animals, and sometimes produce data which are inadequately analysed because of the use of inappropriate statistical methods.

Through its European centre for the validation of alternative methods (ECVAM) of the Joint research centre (JRC), the Commission is coordinating the validation of alternative methods at Community level and a local point of information exchange about the state of the art of alternative methods is being built.

In addition, research into the development of in-vitro tests as alternatives to animal experiments has been one of the priorities for the various Community Biotechnology indirect action programmes for more than 10 years.

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