Sir,
Pat Rattingham's protest at MEPs voting for testing on animals is way
off the mark.
For a start, the European Commission's proposal to have a Europe-wide
testing programme on potentially dangerous chemicals is to avoid cost
and duplication - including the duplication of the testing on animals.
Animal testing would still happen if each country had its own separate testing
programme - but it would happen on a much wider scale.
Secondly, when the proposals were voted in the European Parliament,
there were over 50 amendments backed by the RSPCA's European wing (the
Euro Group for Animal Welfare) and the European Coalition to end animal
experiments. Almost every one of these amendments was adopted,
thereby making the proposed programme even more animal-friendly.
Richard Corbett
Labour MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber |