Cruelty Free Europe’s scientists have proposed ten actions that EU decision-makers could take immediately to significantly reduce the number of animals suffering in laboratories in Europe.

Seventy two percent of EU citizens agree that Europe should set targets and deadlines to phase out animal testing, and our plan shows Europe’s leaders what they could do today to make a difference.

At the current rate of change, it would take a hundred years before animals no longer suffer and die in EU laboratories, and while we would like to see an end to all animal testing immediately, an action plan, complete with targets and timelines, will speed up a phase-out of animal experiments so that it takes years instead of a century.

At least 23.5 million animals are bred and killed in EU laboratories each year, despite animal tests having only limited, conditional support from the public and failing to deliver benefits. The inability of animal “models” to correctly predict human responses contributes to the huge amount of time (up to 15 years) and money ($2.6 billion) it takes to bring a new drug to market, resulting in fewer safe and effective medicines for those who need them.

Animal-free approaches – which are (or have the potential to be) faster, less expensive and more predictive than animal tests – are already widely used in respiratory disease and breast cancer research and outperform some animal safety tests.

Cruelty Free Europe believes that most animal experiments could be ended right away with no detriment to society because they are scientifically unsound or already have non-animal replacements. Our plan also urges the European Commission to increase targeted funding and support for developing new non-animal methods and implementing existing ones.

We have sent our plan to the relevant EU authorities, member states and other decision-makers to use as a starting point for discussions on how we achieve a Europe without animal testing. The European Commission and agencies are aware that we need to move away from experiments on animals – our ten constructive suggestions will provide them with ideas to start this process.

If you are an EU national, please show your support for ending animal testing across Europe by voting here to End Animal Testing.