Campaign "Patients Are Human" gains attention across Europe
- News
Other organizations plan to launch similar campaign
Our campaign Patients Are Human (1), in which real patients take a clear and powerful stand against animal experiments, is making an impact beyond Germany.
At the heart of the campaign stand six courageous individuals who share their personal stories in order to send a strong message: they debunk the commonly used pseudo-argument that patients with serious diagnoses supposedly support animal experiments, as the animal testing lobby likes to put it. Their striking portraits form the visual core of the campaign and draw in viewers with their intensity. Background information on the participants’ conditions sheds light on the limited success of animal experiments in these areas of research. The campaign also presents well-founded knowledge about innovative, animal-free research methods, demonstrating that animal experiments are not only ineffective for human health, but can even be counterproductive and dangerous. The voices of our protagonists are clear, authentic, and unequivocal: No animal experiments in our name!
The response has been overwhelming: within a short period of time, more than 100 additional people with serious diagnoses have expressed public solidarity. By providing their first name, age, and diagnosis, they were included in the list of solidarity statements on our website (2) (only available in German). Their message is as clear as the protagonists’: they, too, reject research methods based on animal suffering that fail to deliver results translatable to humans. They show solidarity with both the protagonists of our campaign and the millions of animals in laboratories.
This powerful message is not limited to Germany. For the International Day for the Abolition of Animal Experiments on April 24, the Croatian organization Animal Friends Croatia — a member of our umbrella association ECEAE — issued a press release that received widespread coverage in Croatian media. Our English-language page has been gaining support, including from European organizations such as Eurogroup for Animals, which has publicly endorsed the campaign (3).
What makes this campaign so special is that it puts people at the center –not in opposition to animals, in solidarity with them. The striking portraits create a thought-provoking, emotional connection. They show that human suffering cannot and must not be alleviated through the suffering of animals.
The international attention is spreading. We have received inquiries and plans from several European countries – including Italy – to launch similar campaigns. The momentum is growing, and with every new face and every new solidarity statement it becomes clearer and clearer: patients do not want animal experiments – they want modern, human-based, ethical research.
Quellen
- Kampagne „Patienten sind menschlich“ >>
- Solidaritätsbekundungen mit unseren Teilnehmenden und den Tieren in den Laboren >>
- English campaign page „Patients are human“ >>
- Patients are human – challenging animal experiments in medical research. Eurogroup for Animals, 31.03.2025 >>