Primate Testing In The Netherlands Down By Nearly 50%

Newly
released research reveals a significant decrease in the use of animals for
testing in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2016 – with the use of primates reduced by nearly half.

The changes
came in the wake of a petition arranged by animal rights organization PETA
Netherlands which received over 100,000 signatures, and was presented to the
country’s politicians.

Primates

Following
the reveal, the Dutch Government moved to phase out experiments which involved
the use of primates at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk.

There were
120 procedures conducted on primates in 2016, according to the data published
by Speaking of Research – a reduction of 49 percent compared to the year
before.

Other
species

The report
also shows a significant decrease in the use of other animals for
experimentation and research.

13 percent
fewer procedures were performed on both dogs and rabbits, while mice – the animals
exploited in the greatest number – were subject to 34 percent fewer procedures.

However, 61 percent of said procedures were classified as ‘severe’.

Death and
anaesthetics

Unfortunately,
25,290 animals still died as a result of animal testing in 2016 – having never
woken up after being experimented on.

Additionally,
277,205 animals underwent procedures serious enough that they were anaesthetised.

‘Must keep
working’

Animal
rights organizations maintain that there’s still work to be done.

PETA’s
article covering the shift says that as long as experimenters in the
Netherlands continue to use animals in more than 400,000 procedures a year, we
must keep working to end these cruel and ineffective tests’.