Commission criticises animal experiment law

The European Commission is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice over its failure to adequately update Victorian legislation governing the use of live animals in experiments.

A statement from the Commission yesterday said that, despite new obligations under a 1986 directive, Ireland still relied on an 1876 legislative definition of animal experiments and on fines set at the time. They range from £5 for most offences to a £50 maximum. The Commission argues these do not meet the treaty requirement that states enforce Union policy with "effective, dissuasive, and proportionate" penalties.

Ireland has argued that the most effective deterrent is not the fine, but the removal of the licence to experiment, and that the licensing system, which is not used elsewhere in the EU, is in fact a far tougher control regime.

The Commission also complains that the current narrow Irish definition of limits on experiments is limited to physical pain and does not take into account other forms of stress.

Although the deficiencies in legislation have been pointed out to Dublin, the Commission says only technical amendments have been made to the legislation.