Chissà se aveva davvero ragione Ovidio : «Crudelitas in animalia est tirocinium crudelitatis contra homines», «la crudeltà contro gli animali è un apprendistato della crudeltà contro gli uomini». O il professor Albert Einstein : «Vivisezione, nessuno scopo è così alto da giustificare metodi così indegni». Sono frasi assai citate dagli animalisti. Ma che Ovidio ed Einstein avessero ragione o no, il loro pensiero non sembra aver cambiato l'Europa: animal testing is still the mainstay of scientific research.
The European Commissioner for Environment said: "It is crucial to put an end to animal experiments." The numbers are saying that it will take quite some time. Each year, in the laboratories of the European Union, we do experiments on over 12 million animals. 2005 data, the latest available: about 12.1 million animals in general, mice 6,430,346, 2,336,032 rats, hamsters, 31,535, 312,681 rabbits and hares, 3,898 cats and 24,119 dogs, 5,312 horses and donkeys, etc. . And again, prosimians and monkeys of small to medium size as the "squirrel" Brazilian 10,443; great apes such as orangutans, chimpanzees and go 
Rilla: zero (for years, the EU prohibits any experiment on them), snakes and turtles, 2477; fish, 1,749,178.
Rilla: zero (for years, the EU prohibits any experiment on them), snakes and turtles, 2477; fish, 1,749,178. In the euro area, from 2002 to 2005 the number of animals-guinea pig has increased by 399,279 units, equivalent to 3.1%. Rodents are 77.5% of the total. Here are the cold-blooded animals (15%) and birds (5.4%). Some species have declined: hamsters, goats, prosimians, quail and reptiles were the first 40% of the total and are now 22%. Instead, increased by 36% the number of cattle. It appeared the 'new' animals: seals, otters, squirrels, parrots, birds diamonds. In two words: labs shake a sea of \u200b\u200bfur, shells, skins and scales, and animals reveal a slaughter intolerable, and researchers a wealth of knowledge necessary to beat the disease.
The confrontation turns on two questions: Is it right, ethically, to hurt a being capable of suffering? And how this suffering can be justified by its scientific usefulness? An initial response has just arrived from Brussels, with the test ban in the field of cosmetics. The Commission itself proposes to update the existing directive on animal testing, and promises to improve environmental conditions in laboratories.
The confrontation turns on two questions: Is it right, ethically, to hurt a being capable of suffering? And how this suffering can be justified by its scientific usefulness? An initial response has just arrived from Brussels, with the test ban in the field of cosmetics. The Commission itself proposes to update the existing directive on animal testing, and promises to improve environmental conditions in laboratories.
Per gli animalisti non basta, puntano il dito contro «le lobbies farmaceutiche».
La Coalizione
europea per l'abolizione degli esperimenti sugli animali, vorrebbe vietare i test su tutte le scimmie, grandi e piccole. Troppo presto, dicono gli esperti incaricati dalla Ue: «oggi l'uso di primati non umanoidi è essenziale per il progresso scientifico in diverse aree importanti della ricerca sulle malattie». In particolare, «nella comprensione di malattie infettive come l'Hiv-Aids», per le quali queste scimmie sono «l'unica specie suscettibile» (di contrarre il virus, ndr) e perciò «l'unico modello animal useful for studying the disease and to develop vaccines and therapies are safe and effective. "
Conclusion: "Animals should be used in medical research when unavoidable and when there are no valid alternative methods", but come to replace them in the laboratories will be "a long and difficult process." The positions are therefore still far apart.
La Coalizione
europea per l'abolizione degli esperimenti sugli animali, vorrebbe vietare i test su tutte le scimmie, grandi e piccole. Troppo presto, dicono gli esperti incaricati dalla Ue: «oggi l'uso di primati non umanoidi è essenziale per il progresso scientifico in diverse aree importanti della ricerca sulle malattie». In particolare, «nella comprensione di malattie infettive come l'Hiv-Aids», per le quali queste scimmie sono «l'unica specie suscettibile» (di contrarre il virus, ndr) e perciò «l'unico modello animal useful for studying the disease and to develop vaccines and therapies are safe and effective. " Conclusion: "Animals should be used in medical research when unavoidable and when there are no valid alternative methods", but come to replace them in the laboratories will be "a long and difficult process." The positions are therefore still far apart.
But there are those who can see a compromise. For example, Andrea Chiti-Batelli, offers: "It is true that many experiments are still useful and should be done (but they are also a lot of useless). And many have, for various reasons, be repeated. But why do it simultaneously in multiple research centers? ".
(Adapted from The Courier. Pictures from the web)
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