Forum Topic

Cats and Dogs SHOCK HORROR

Heard this on LBC this morning and, have now found it on line.  Could this lead to criminals, cat and dog napping of your beloved pet.Screw the EU and the government for allowing the content of the following article, if it should come into force.  Please contact you MP and, lodge your objections to the BILL.BUAV raises concerns about the of use stray cats and dogs in experiments30/05/2012The BUAV is alarmed by the Government’s proposal to end the current protection granted to stray domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, when it integrates the new EU Directive on animal experiments into UK legislation. By introducing such an exemption that would allow stray domestic animals to be used in experiments “where scientifically justified and for human/animal health or environmental reasons,” the Government could be opening the doors to the use of stray or abandoned pet cats and dogs ending up in UK laboratories. Not only would there be large public opposition and outrage, this practice also contradicts the Government’s previous claims that British legislation will not be weakened. In the past, the BUAV has campaigned extensively against the use of unwanted and abandoned cats and dogs being supplied to laboratories by unscrupulous dealers; a practice that was common decades ago. The European Union, including the UK, has agreed a new Directive to standardise the regulations on experiments across Europe. This will now be “transposed” into national law. Countries with existing restrictions are allowed to maintain them if they wish. Every animal protection group and even many researchers urged the Government to maintain the ban on using stray and feral domestic species, but it proposes to waive its right to do so and to accept the new, vaguer, standard. The Government proposes to slip this change, and many others, through the Commons by using an ad hoc committee, with no debate the floor of the House. Most MPs would then have no chance to oppose it. The BUAV is working hard to prevent this. We have obtained a meeting with the Home Office to press our objections and are calling for MPs to insist on a full debate on the whole transposition of the EU proposals. Please write to your MP asking for support for this to help stop this appalling proposal in its tracks.

Nicola Howard ● 5203d8 Comments

There was a recent thread on this on chiswickw4 which seemed to agree, if I remember correctly that this is, as your title suggests, sensationalist nonsense. I can't remember the details as I didn't read it all but I'm sure you can find the thread easily enough.

Milena Vincic ● 5202d

ASK YOUR MP TO SIGN EDM 193 AND SAY NO TO THE USE OF STRAY CATS AND DOGS IN EXPERIMENTS!14/06/2012Join the BUAV campaign to oppose the UK Government’s plans to remove the current protection granted to stray domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, as it integrates the new EU Directive on animal experiments into UK legislation. If these new rules are imposed, the Government could allow the use of stray, lost or abandoned cats and dogs to be used in experiments and sentenced to a life in a UK laboratory.An Early Day Motion with cross party support has today been tabled by Adrian Sanders MP in support of the BUAV campaign. Adrian told the BUAV:“I'm shocked that the Government is considering removing the current protection given to our stray cats and dogs from being used in experiments. Losing a pet is distressing, but the idea that the animal could potentially end up in a laboratory is ghastly and unacceptable, and I urge the Government to reconsider.”Please join us by writing to your MP today urging them to sign our Early Day Motion 193 opposing this appalling proposition.

Bob Crossley ● 5202d

http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=community&link=http://appasp.chiswickw4.com/server/app/forum/default.asp

Milena Vincic ● 5202d

21 Jun 2012 : Column 1111W & 1112W HOME DEPARTMENTAnimal ExperimentsNic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the use of stray dogs and cats in animal experiments through the transposition of the EU Directive on animal experimentation. [112338]Lynne Featherstone: The UK does not allow the use of stray dogs and cats in animal experiments. The EU Directive also states that stray animals should not be used. We do not envisage any circumstances under which the use of stray animals will be justified in the future.European Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes is to be implemented in the United Kingdom and other member states from 1 January 2013.Article 10 requires that dogs and cats may only be used in procedures if they have been purpose bred. Any exception to this requirement must be justified on scientific grounds. Article 11 prohibits the use of stray and feral animals of domestic species except in essential studies relating to the health and welfare of the animals, or serious threats to the environment or to human or animal health. Where such an exception is to be granted, there must be a scientific justification that the purpose of the procedure can be achieved only by the use of a stray or feral animal.We propose to implement the requirements of Articles 10 and 11 by means of the standard conditions to be applied to project licences.Currently, section 10(3) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 provides similar prohibitions through its requirement for the conditions of a project licence to include a condition to the effect that dogs and cats must be purpose bred and prohibiting the use of wild animals. Section 10(3) also provides for exceptions to these prohibitions, where justified.As current UK requirements are not stricter than those of the new directive in this regard, it is not possible to place an absolute prohibition of the use of stray dogs and cats on the face of revised UK legislation using Article 2 to the directive. Nevertheless, under the 1986 Act, exceptions relating to the use of feral animals have been extremely rare and no use of stray animals has been authorised. We do not envisage any circumstances under which the use of stray animals will be justified in the future and I therefore propose, as a matter of policy, to continue this effective prohibition on the use of stray animals under revised UK legislation transposing the new directive.

Sara Nathan ● 5198d

Article 11: Stray and feral animals of domestic species Question 15: Is there a case on animal welfare gounds for retaining the current UK prohibition on the use of stray and feral animals, as permitted by Article 2? The APC recommends that the current prohibition on the use of stray and feral animals should be retained. We believe that the stress due to capture, handling and restraint would be significant for these animals (bearing in mind that purpose-bred animals will be available and habituated to human contact and environment), and – very importantly – the public would be very deeply concerned if stray animals were to be used, especially if someone‟s companion animal were to be used in error5. UK science has operated perfectly well without using stray or feral animals for decades and it is already possible to use tissues and organs from stray and feral animals post-euthanasia under the current system. 5. PROCEDURES Article 3: Definition of „procedure‟This from the APC - a statutory scientific advisory committee at the Home Office charged with advising ministers on the workings of the Animal 9scientific procedures) Act 1986 - of which I am chair until December 2012

Sara Nathan ● 5198d

Have received a response from Angie on the status of vivisection and the EU directive.Apologies if this comes out on the large size as did not reformat after e-mails.

Nicola Howard ● 5173d

Yup - she has the line and the brief.

Sara Nathan ● 5173d

This type of research depends on animals that are clean (ie known to be free of disease and whose history is known to the scientists) to ensure that any test results can be validated with consistent results across repetitions.  A stray animal would offer no guarantee that it is free from disease therefore potentially invalidating test results or risking introduction of disease into the lab and the need to scrap all research to date.

Joanne Brianti ● 5172d