Many of you will have seen undercover video footage taken at the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology in Hamburg, Germany. These clips show several examples of the inhumane treatment of laboratory animals.
LASA condemns practices that fall below the standards set out in the European Directive 2010/63/EU, which have been transposed into the local legislation of each EU Member state. In the case of the UK the local legislation is the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amended 2012. Legislation requires that laboratory animals should always be treated with due care and respect.
LASA promotes the importance of high standards of animal welfare in research to minimise the impact on the health and welfare of all experimental animals and because good animal welfare will maximise the quality of scientific data and reduce the numbers of animals required. LASA expects the German regulatory authority to thoroughly investigate the alleged incidents and encourages the publication of their findings as soon as possible.