While some 20 million of them share our homes, dogs and cats are also a valuable raw material for laboratories where they are subject to deplorable living conditions, exhausting transport, violence, imprisonment and lack of care. One Voice denounces the suffering and death which are unworthy of humanity and the history that binds us to these animals that have been our companions for centuries.
Poisoning, mutilation, burning, electrocution, deprivation of food or water, force-feeding, deliberate distress, lack of care, abandonment, death: depending on who you are – a private individual or researcher – these acts of barbarism either leave you open to criminal sanction, or are completely justified, even encouraged, in the name of scientific progress. This is “unequal justice”, which One Voice denounces in the name of responsibility to these animals, who have shared the lives of humans for centuries.
A schizophrenic situation
In 2006, 42.7% of French households chose a dog or cat for company. This amounted to 8.8 million dogs and 9.7 million cats, placing France as the 4th most significant country in the world for cat ownership and 5th for cat ownership. According to some eminent studies, it is a noted fact that their presence helps people live and recover from illness. In addition to breaking the solitude of people living on their own and acting as a social link, animals also have therapeutic properties. For example, simply stroking an animal can cause blood pressure to fall. Man and his four-legged friends have lived together for millennia. Dogs and cats have achieved such a high level of domestication that they are now an integral part of the home. Even if not all of our pets are treated with the full respect due to them, how can we accept the treatments that are inflicted on them in laboratories, treatments that are legalised and funded by our taxes ?
Unjustifiable suffering and death
The supply of dogs and cats to laboratories inevitably causes unjustifiable suffering and death that One Voice condemns through its actions : information, supported by investigative enquiries into farming and holding conditions that do not respect the law ; petitions and interventions in the field to rescue animals, prevent the opening of new breeding centres or demand the closure of these shameful centres are just some of these actions.
Dramatic accommodation and treatment conditions
The European directive is extremely specific as to breeding and experimentation conditions for dogs and cats. However, the lack of transparency, notably concerning the use of anaesthetics and pain relief, the lack of information, the warnings given by the European Commission for serious breaches in France, the secrecy which shrouds suppliers and laboratories lead us to think that in these profit-making activities, conditions to guarantee animals’ essential well-being are far from being applied. This has been proven by reports from our undercover investigators who observed, among other activities, high-powered hose used to calm dogs when taken outside for their cages to be cleaned, or a small cat who spent three days in a transit station to the laboratory. The full horror of life for these animals could be seen during the rescue of four dogs that One Voice managed to buy from a specialist centre or during the liberation of 9 beagles : cages on damp, stony floors, isolation although Beagles need social relationships, under-feeding, various wounds, terror of other dogs and humans, panic when stroked… It’s true that dog breeding centre employees are forbidden from stroking the animals. This already considerable psychological and physical suffering is compounded by the treatment to which the animals are subjected during tests, where the sadism of certain employees only makes an already dramatic situation even worse.
A morally dubious position
According to many scientists, the fact that illnesses are caused artificially and the differences between species compromise the value for humans of the results obtained by these types of experiment. Aspirin, for example, causes pregnancy problems in cats. While Europe has considerably reduced the number of experiments on dogs and cats and is advocating the development of substitution methods, France is still in a morally dubious position. France is in pole position in terms of the number of cats used, and is in second place for the number of dogs. This is despite the disapproval of most of its citizens: 72 % of French people are opposed to experiments on dogs and cats (Ipsos/One Voice survey – February 2003).
72 % of French people are opposed to experiments on dogs and cats (Ipsos/One Voice survey – February 2003).
Research on dogs and cats
In 2004, 1 313 cats and 5 539 dogs were used for experiments in France (see Ministry of Higher Education and Research statistic report). Beagles, because of their gentleness and their size which makes them suitable to handling, Labradors and Golden Retrievers (France’s favourite dog) are mostly used for vivisection. Cats are mainly used in research and development for pharmaceutical, dental and veterinary products, as are dogs, which are however more often used in product toxicity and harmlessness tests. Cats are used for research into sleep, the brain and behaviour, balance and vision. For dogs: medication, digestion, heart and blood system tests.
