Sir – It is disappointing that Dr Lucas MEP (Letters, February 26) has failed to see the dangers that the current revisions to EU Directive 86/609 have to the future of medical research.
The restrictions on the use of non-human primates neglects to acknowledge the importance of basic research; it is such research that underpins all of medical research and yet would be prevented as not being directly related to “life-threatening or debilitating clinical conditions”.
Research in Europe is done under the strictest conditions in the world while the billions of animals killed for food across the EU are subject to minimal regulation.
Such regulation on animal experiments has surpassed any pretence of animal welfare and moved into simple bureaucracy — it is proposed that we must count the number of fish larvae used, despite there being no evidence such animals can suffer at all. No doubt it will be the same animal rights groups who are pushing these revisions who will be attacking the Government when the number of animals used in the UK goes up one hundredfold from the inclusion of several bucketfuls of shrimp larvae.
The newly-built, world-class Oxford Biomedical Facility shows that huge leaps and bounds in animal research are coming from the researchers themselves and not from outside legislation.
Tom Holder, Pro-Test spokesman, Cambridge
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