News

Dr Corina Gericke

Published: 12 October 2023

Doctors Against Animal Experiments fears ‘an empty promise’

The federal government is allocating two million euros, distributed over two years, for a strategy to reduce animal experiments. This initiative addresses a promise made in the coalition agreement just before the halfway point of the current government's term. While the nationwide organization Doctors Against Animal Experiments (DAAE) welcomes this move on the one hand, they also fear it may turn out to be an ‘empty promise’.

Dr Zoe Mayer, green Member of Parliament recently announced that in the 2024 budget, funds amounting to 1 million euros will now be made available for a reduction strategy of animal experiments. Another million euros has been earmarked for subsequent budgets. "With this initial funding, the strategy can be developed in the coming year and its implementation can begin," the MPs' press release states. The aim is above all to establish animal-free methods, which are already far advanced but are not used because of lengthy approval procedures.

"On the one hand, we welcome the provision of funds to at least address the issue. After all, in its first two years, the current government has nothing positive to report regarding animal experiments," says Dr Corina Gericke, Vice Chair of Doctors Against Animal Experiments. On the other hand, the organization sees no clear political will from the responsible Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, to initiate a long-overdue paradigm shift in animal experimentation. Prior to the election two years ago, both the Greens and the Social Democrates had advocated for a phase-out strategy.

The skepticism of DAAE is grounded in the federal government's poor track record on the subject of animal experiments in general, and particularly within the Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL). In 2018, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Germany due to its inadequate implementation of the EU Directive on the Use of Animals in Scientific Procedures, especially concerning the approval of animal experiments. The previous government subsequently implemented a few minor improvements. "Within the ongoing revision of the animal welfare law, the government had the opportunity to rectify the still existing omissions of the previous government, which, however, did not happen," Gericke criticized.

In 2020, SPD members of the federal Parliament secured the allocation of 3 million euros for a "Platform for Alternative Methods to Animal Testing," including the development of a database for these methods. "But what was the outcome of this very promising initiative? The Federal Ministry of Research has established a 'Federal Network 3R,' which, once again, focuses merely on slightly reducing and 'improving' the wrong method, animal experiments. 3R stands for Reduce, Replace, and Refine. There is no mention anymore of the originally planned, truly meaningful database." The organization is concerned that a similar fate could befall the 2 million euros, especially since the current revision of the animal welfare law completely ignores the issue of animal experiments. Furthermore, Doctors Against Animal Experiments criticizes the small sum in comparison to the billions of taxpayer money wasted on animal experiments year after year.

"The correct implementation of the EU Directive on animal experiments into German law would come at no cost - corresponding drafts are already available - but would make the approval of animal experiments significantly more difficult. Addressing this deficit would show political will," criticizes veterinarian Gericke. "The two million euros should not be wasted for 3R projects that ultimately serve to cement animal testing, instead of finally developing an exit plan with concrete milestones."

In 2019, Doctors Against Animal Experiments, along with 15 other animal welfare and animal rights organizations, launched the campaign ‘Phase-out Animal Experiments’ and recently presented a guideline on how such an exit can be achieved.