GAP AND DARWIN ALERT
posted in 22 Jan 2009
CATALUN IN SPAIN REACHES RECORD IN THE NUMBER OF PRIMATES AND ANIMALS USED IN EXPERIMENTS
 
In 2002 it had been used 48 primates (species African Cercopithecus). In 2007, 234. The number of animals in general got from 77.754 in 2002 to 215.739 in 2007. It is estimated that all the primates were originated from a breeding that supplies labs in all Europe located in Camarles zone, in Catalun.

GAP Project (PGS in Spain) and Darwin Organization denounced to the authorities this absurd rise in the use of animals in clinical experiments, to evaluate medical, dental and vet products, and also experiments with diseases. Authorities from Catalun announced they did not know the reason for such increase and denied that they could control it.

Nowadays, more than 400 European deputies are pronouncing themselves against the use of primates in medical experiments, and Austria is the first country in the European Community that has already established the prohibition.

Director of GAP in Spain, Pedro Pozas Terrados, has been spoken up for his fear that "this rise in the experiments with primates would not be happening only in Catalun. It can be happening in a national level and the numbers can jump in an alarming way."