DRAFT LAW (DDL) n. 3048

ITALY - Draft Law (DDL) n. 3048 "Provisions prohibiting animal testing and introduction of alternate methods"

Sabato 31 Marzo 2012 08:45

Draft Law (DDL) n. 3048 initiative of Senator Albert FILIPPI press to the char: January 10, 2012 (For more information on proposed Law 3084 go to).

"Provisions prohibiting animal testing and introduction of alternate methods"

Honourable senators

on March 2011 the Official Gazette published the new statistics regarding the use of animals for experimentation in Italy, for the period 2007-2009 (Official Gazette no. 53rd of March 5, 2011). It is a very sad report that is done every three years to keep track of this unnecessary barbarity.

The total number of animals used has slightly decreased: in the three years (2007-2009) 2,602,773 animals were used, about an average of 867,591 per year, compared to the previous three years (911.962 per year), which represents a decrease of 5%, i.e. 44,371 fewer animals killed each year (LAV Report 2004 "The Vivisection in Italy Region by Region").

However, the figures provided are deceptive. Although there has been a reduction in the animals used in experimentation, the official data available for the last three years show an increase of experiments using animals for educational purposes and / or without anesthesia in dogs, cats and non-human primates. A rough estimate finds that this figure turns out to be about 20 % of the total experiments.

Examining the number of animals used in the last three years in various sectors,

Reveals 1,275,433 animals, 49 % of the total, used for basic research, with an increase of 4 percent over the previous three years;
618,746 animals used in research and development of drugs, 24 % of the total, have decreased of 17 percent over the 2001-2003 period;
320,410 animals used in tests required by law for specific medications, 12 % of the total, have decreased of the 10% compared to previous three years;
197,595 animals used for toxicity testing, 7.6 % of the total, have decreased of 12 % over the previous three years;
75,640 animals used for disease diagnosis, 3 % of total, is down 16 % from the previous three years; 63,478 animals used in tests required by law for the production of drugs for veterinary use, 2.4 % of the total, have increased a 20 % compared to the past;
49,546 animals used for "other", a 1 % of the total, have increased of 40 %t compared to previous years;
1,925 animals for education, 0.1 %, -32 % compared to the previous three years (LAV Report 2004 "The Vivisection in Italy Region by Region").

A major part of vivisection is carried out in universities, but in Italy there are over 581 establishments licensed to use animals, including chemical and pharmaceutical industries, laboratories, hospitals and public institutions. Animal experimentation (or vivisection) involves serious suffering to the animals (rats, rabbits, birds, fish, dogs, cats, monkeys, cattle and horses) without there being any obligation to use anesthesia causing burns, poisoning, genetic changes, dependency on drugs, blindness and mutilation. Each experiment causes a long, painful and agonizing ordeal for the animals that ends with death and therefore it is an unacceptable practice from a scientific standpoint but more so from an ethical point of view.

Nearly 40 percent of the animals are killed for the sole purpose of setting up cell cultures; if, instead, human tissue obtained from biopsies, surgery of different kinds or from cadavers were used, the lives of about 400,000 animals each year would be saved.

Since 2003, Italy also is equipped with an organization for the dissemination of alternative methods, the IPAM (Italian Platform on Alternative Methods); it consists, like all the platforms of the other European countries, of representatives from four areas of interest: government institutions, industry, science (universities / research institutes), animal welfare organizations and animal welfare. IPAM’s main task is to facilitate the implementation of alternative methods to promote the exchange of scientific information and expertise among the aforementioned four areas; this will spur the further development and refinement of alternative methods to animal experimentation in Italy, raising awareness with the public in general, government, companies and institutions. This should help to make alternative testing methods more easily accepted within the animal experimentation community. Alternative methods mean include computer models, chemical analysis, statistical surveys (epidemiology and meta-analysis), bioartificial organs, DNA microchips and microcircuits with human cells.

This bill, therefore, represents a first step in achieving the objective of banning animal testing and providing the incentive for funding projects aimed at the advancement of medical knowledge and scientific non-animal research.

Proposed Law 3084

Art. 1.

1. Article 1 of the Law of June 12, 1931, n. 924, and follow-up modifications, is replaced by the following:

Art. 1.-1. Vivisection and any other animal experimentation are prohibited.

2. Anyone that violates the measures in subsection 1 will be punished according to Article 727 of the Penal Code.

Art.2.

1. The Legislative Decree of January 27, 1991, n. 116, is annulled.

Art. 3.

1. Starting from 2012, the State will provide financial funds for research and alternate methods to animal experimentation.
2. With a decree to be issued within three months from the date the present law comes into effect, the Minister of Education, university and research, in conjunction with the Minister of Health will provide ways, procedures and recipients that will receive the funds referred to in paragraph 1.

Art. 4.

1. Within a year after the present law takes effect, all studies and research using animals will have to come to an end.

2. Within 6 months after the present law takes effect, the Minister of Health, by its own decree, will establish the criteria in accordance with the law for the suspension of animal experimentation that were authorized before the enforcement of the present law, to bring to an end the studies and research referred in subsection 1.

Source: Feder F.I.D.A. onlus

Draft Law (DDL) n. 3048