Cruelty Free Europe members meet in Brussels
We stress importance of animal testing phase-out to new MEPs
Our Cruelty Free Europe member organisations convened in Brussels last week to share updates on a busy 2024 and take part in a series of meetings with MEPs and their staff at the European Parliament.
With a spirit of collaboration and lifted by the strength of our shared mission, participants reflected on a challenging, occasionally volatile but ultimately positive 12 months in which members enjoyed notable examples of progress in science, and some important political breakthroughs.
An inspiring report from our Bosnian member, EcoVegAnimals, as they explained how their 2024 Geoffrey Deckers Award supported their recent Scientific Conference on Non-Animal Approaches in Biomedical Education, was one of the highlights.
The following day, we met with MEPs from across Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Netherlands and Belgium, to raise the profile of animal testing as a critical issue with the new intake of MEPs. We stressed the importance of an ambitious and consistent approach which delivers a phase out of animal testing across all of the policies and activities of the European Union. With the appointment of Olivér Várhelyi as the EU’s first Animal Welfare Commissioner confirmed, we encouraged MEPs to demonstrate to the European Commission that animal testing is an important issue not just to the public but also to Parliament.
Catarina Martins, MEP with Rita Silva, Animal and Dylan Underhill, Head of Public Affairs, Cruelty Free Europe
Suzanne Martin, SAFR Ireland and Dylan Underhill, Head of Public Affairs, Cruelty Free Europe
Rita Silva, Animal with Anja Hazekamp, MEP and Anita Euschen, Animals without Borders
The Commission last year promised to develop a roadmap to phase-out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, in response to the 2021 European Citizens’ Initiative, ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing’, which was signed by over 1.2 million EU citizens. Earlier this year, we worked closely with a group of animal protection NGOs to bring together the Commission and key stakeholders from across the European Union, as a critical step towards shaping the objectives and outcomes of that roadmap.
Statistics published by the Commission in July show that there were 9.34 million tests on animals in the EU and Norway in 2022. There was also a further 9.6 million animals intentionally bred and killed in laboratories, without being used in experiments, bringing the total uses of animals in 2022 to 18.9 million.
Our Head of Public Affairs, Dylan Underhill, said: “This was a particularly important time for all Cruelty Free Europe members to meet, with the new European Parliament having just been elected and the appointment of the first ever Commissioner for Animal Welfare eagerly awaited. The coming months and years will be pivotal in our work to phase-out animal testing in Europe – something which European citizens have made very clear that they want.
“Working together and sharing our successes is crucial in allowing us to send that message to the EU. The Commission now need to show political leadership as it works towards that phase-out, and in our meetings with MEPs we urged consistency across all relevant departments, including chemicals regulation, cosmetics, data management, environment, health and animal welfare. As a collective, we look forward to being both a supportive and challenging voice to ensure that the new role of Animal Welfare Commissioner delivers crucial goals that will ultimately bring about an end to the use of animals in science across the EU.”
Catarina Martins, MEP with Rita Silva, Animal and Dylan Underhill, Head of Public Affairs, Cruelty Free Europe
Suzanne Martin, SAFR Ireland and Dylan Underhill, Head of Public Affairs, Cruelty Free Europe
Rita Silva, Animal with Anja Hazekamp, MEP and Anita Euschen, Animals without Borders
The Commission last year promised to develop a roadmap to phase-out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, in response to the 2021 European Citizens’ Initiative, ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing’, which was signed by over 1.2 million EU citizens. Earlier this year, we worked closely with a group of animal protection NGOs to bring together the Commission and key stakeholders from across the European Union, as a critical step towards shaping the objectives and outcomes of that roadmap.
Statistics published by the Commission in July show that there were 9.34 million tests on animals in the EU and Norway in 2022. There was also a further 9.6 million animals intentionally bred and killed in laboratories, without being used in experiments, bringing the total uses of animals in 2022 to 18.9 million.
Our Head of Public Affairs, Dylan Underhill, said: “This was a particularly important time for all Cruelty Free Europe members to meet, with the new European Parliament having just been elected and the appointment of the first ever Commissioner for Animal Welfare eagerly awaited. The coming months and years will be pivotal in our work to phase-out animal testing in Europe – something which European citizens have made very clear that they want.
“Working together and sharing our successes is crucial in allowing us to send that message to the EU. The Commission now need to show political leadership as it works towards that phase-out, and in our meetings with MEPs we urged consistency across all relevant departments, including chemicals regulation, cosmetics, data management, environment, health and animal welfare. As a collective, we look forward to being both a supportive and challenging voice to ensure that the new role of Animal Welfare Commissioner delivers crucial goals that will ultimately bring about an end to the use of animals in science across the EU.”