The New EU Directive on the Use of Animals for Research and the Value of Moral Consistency

Abstract

Beginning in 2013, the European Union (EU) Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes must be implemented by member states (European Parliament and the Council of the European Union 2010). This editorial aims to reveal a moral inconsistency underlying EU legislation on the use of animals and to prepare for further reform in laws that govern the use of animals worldwide. In his recent book on the ethics of animal experimentation, Andrew Knight estimates that at least 126.9 million animals with vertebrates were used in experiments in 2005 (Knight 2011, 16). According to the organisation Animals Deserve Absolute Protect ion Today and Tomorrow (ADAPTT 2012), the number of animals who are killed for human food every year exceeds 150 billion. However, this is considered to be a very conservative estimate based on available data gathered in 2003. For every animal used in experiments, it is therefore likely that at least 1,200 animals are killed to provide food. These statistics are mentioned here not from a desire to show that the number of animals used for research is relatively insignificant compared to the number of animals used for food, but, rather, to point out a glaring inconsistency: Whilst fairly stringent legal codes have been developed to regulate the activities of experimenters who work in a sector that uses relatively few animals, legal codes continue to turn a blind eye to the vast numbers of animals who are being used for food. In most EU legislation, the articles that form the core of the legal text are preceded by a number of recitals that provide reasons underpinning the law. Directive 2010/ 63/EU is a remarkable legal document, particularly because of recitals 10 and 12. Recital 10 states that “this Directive represents an important step towards achieving the final goal of full replacement of procedures on live animals” (European Parliament and the Council of the European Union 2010). Recital 12 posits that “the use of animals for scientific or educational purposes should... only be considered where a non-animal alternative is unavailable” (European Parliament and the Council of the European Union 2010). The reason why these recitals are so interesting is that they would have drastic implications for the use of animals for food, if people were prepared to be consistent. This is clear if we replace a few key words in recital 12: “the use of animals for” food “should... only be considered where a non-animal alternative is unavailable.” Indeed, the “final goal of full replacement” that recital 10 talks about seems to be within the reach of most people who live in the European Union today: Most people have sufficient non-animal alternatives available to feed Bioethical Inquiry (2012) 9:377–379 DOI 10.1007/s11673-012-9400-0