#Newsfeature

News from EARA

This page contains all the news outputs from EARA, including press releases and videos, EARA policy and news briefings, plus opinion pieces and significant media articles.

Other pages in this section explain more about EARA on social media and practical information for journalists.

Animal research – a debate between a primate researcher and an opponent

Bob Tolliday

Mar 5, 2019
7 min

Animal research – a debate between a primate researcher and an opponent

A moderated debate between Prof. Stefan Treue, (pictured below) animal physiologist, neuroscientist and director of the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen and Jörg Luy, philosopher, veterinarian and animal ethicist at the Research and Advisory Institute for Applied Ethics and Animal Welfare Instet in Berlin. Thousands of monkeys are kept in Germany alone for animal experiments. Is that justifiable? Spiegel Moderation: Ann-Katrin Müller

Bob Tolliday

Feb 28, 2019
4 min

Why Belgium still needs animal testing in the fight against cancer

In a piece first published in the Belgian news magazine Knack (in Dutch), Prof. Damya Laoui, from the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB, an EARA member), in Belgium, together with Dr. Liesbeth Aerts and Dr. Jeroen Aerts from Infopunt Proefdieronderzoek (IPPO, also an EARA member), explain that researchers don’t take the use of animals in biomedical research lightly. Many people are critical of animal testing, and from an emotional point of view this is very understanda

Bob Tolliday

Jan 8, 2019
4 min

Vaccines Save Lives

The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls on European policymakers, health care workers and parents to increase vaccination efforts against measles and warns of growing numbers of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. With the now infamous measles outbreak at Disneyland California, it is now clear a growing chorus of parents are questioning the safety and necessity of vaccines. Recent outbreaks have affected a number of European member states as well, including the Ru

The peaceful but insidious tactics of animal rights groups in Portugal

Bob Tolliday

Jan 8, 2019
5 min

The peaceful but insidious tactics of animal rights groups in Portugal

This article was originally published by Inês S. Albuquerque on the Speaking of Research website. Speaking of Research aims to provide accurate information about the importance of animal research / animal testing in medical and veterinary science. Since 2000 there has been a rise in the opposition to animal research across much of Europe. The tactics of animal rights groups in Europe have been very similar to those in the US, including rallies, hate campaigns, vandalism and t

We aren’t sadists, but we do animal research

Bob Tolliday

Jan 8, 2019
4 min

We aren’t sadists, but we do animal research

A group of young, ambitious Belgian scientists have had enough of standing by doing nothing while animal research is criticised in the media. This article by Liesbeth Aerts and Jeroen Aerts was translated from the original Dutch version published in De Standaard on 26 December 2016. ‘Sadists’, ‘bastards, ‘a gang of psychopaths’, ‘worse than Dutroux [serial killer and child molester]’ … a selection of the insults directed at animal researchers that appear each time the debate

Research with dogs develops an artificial pancreas to treat diabetes

Bob Tolliday

Jan 8, 2019
5 min

Research with dogs develops an artificial pancreas to treat diabetes

White Coat Waste is a conservative animal rights organization devoted to the elimination of animal research. Its first target is biomedical research conducted using dogs at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Unfortunately, this campaign is gaining traction. While White Coat Waste is supported mainly by Republicans, some Democrat representatives like Dina Titus (Nevada) and Ted Lieu (California) have expressed their support. In view of that, it is important to highlig

Bob Tolliday

Jan 8, 2019
3 min

Three cheers for China’s cloned monkeys

It’s likely that you have heard of ‘Dolly’ the sheep, famously announced as the first mammal ever to be successfully cloned, in February 1997 (Dolly was born in July 1996). Dolly was a product of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), which involved taking an adult cell from the udder of a female sheep and using the nucleus from that cell to replace the nucleus of an egg from another female sheep. The egg was successfully encouraged to fuse with the new nucleus using electric

Bob Tolliday

Nov 15, 2018
3 min

Opinion: Making sense of sentience

With a draft UK Animal Welfare Bill looking to put the concept of ‘animal sentience”directly into law and an ongoing debate about the levels of pain different species might experience, psychologist Stuart Derbyshire asks if we are really observing pain in some animals or some other reaction. Recently, the government of Switzerland ordered that lobsters should no longer be dropped alive into boiling water in case the lobster feels pain. Much of the evidence that lobsters might

A trans-Atlantic transparency gap on animal experiments

Bob Tolliday

Jul 14, 2017
1 min

A trans-Atlantic transparency gap on animal experiments

This article was originally published in Science on 14 July 2017 The launch last month of a website called LabAnimalTour.org, which showcases animal experiments at several prominent institutions in the United Kingdom, is part of a trend toward increasing openness by researchers in a country that 2 decades ago was riven by sometimes-violent animal rights activism. Since 2014, 116 life sciences organizations in the United Kingdom have signed onto a Concordat on Openness on Anim

On Lab Animal Day, Belgian science unites in support of animal research

Bob Tolliday

Aug 15, 2016
3 min

On Lab Animal Day, Belgian science unites in support of animal research

This blog was also published on Huffington Post UK. World Day for Laboratory Animals on 24 April was originally established by animal rights activists to raise awareness for the fate of animals in laboratories. Every year on that day, they organise demonstrations and petitions against animal research. But this time, on behalf of 24 research institutions in Belgium, we wanted to raise awareness of the important biomedical research that would not be possible without research us

Panel Discussion: Effectiveness and reliability of alternative methods used for regulatory purposes

Bob Tolliday

Jan 27, 2016
4 min

Panel Discussion: Effectiveness and reliability of alternative methods used for regulatory purposes

On December 1 of last year the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) celebrated its tenth anniversary with a conference in the European Parliament. As part of the conference Julie Girling, Member of the European Parliament and EPAA stakeholder, chaired a roundtable to discuss challenges in developing alternative methods seeking to replace, reduce and refine animal procedures. Around the table were Maurice Whelan from the European Commission

European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing: 10 years of promoting development

Bob Tolliday

Jan 27, 2016
3 min

European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing: 10 years of promoting development

The European Directive 2010/63 that protects animals required for scientific purposes was enforced in Member states in 2012. The Directive introduced the 3R principles of replacement, reduction and refinement of animal procedures into regulation. The scientific community has recognised the Directive as the world’s most progressive and stringent framework seeking to ensure high animal welfare standards while encouraging the development of alternative methods. As a result of th

Why People Are Wrong to Oppose the New UK Beagle Breeding Facility

Bob Tolliday

Aug 19, 2015
4 min

Why People Are Wrong to Oppose the New UK Beagle Breeding Facility

Where do medicines come from? It’s not a question most of us bother with when we take advantage of the huge array of medical treatments available to us. All modern medicine is built on the ‘basic research’ which allows us to understand our physiology, and the diseases we suffer. Much of this research has been done, and continues to be done, in animals. Had Mering and Minkowski not shown the causal link between the pancreas and diabetes in dogs, we might never have discovered

Amendments to the European Directive 2010/63 in Italy have a huge impact in my research

Bob Tolliday

Aug 12, 2015
3 min

Amendments to the European Directive 2010/63 in Italy have a huge impact in my research

Riccardo Avvisati is a PhD student at Sapienza University of Rome, studying the influences of the environment on drug of abuse in a rodent model. He is currently a visiting research student at the University of Sussex. There is no doubt that animal rights organisations are gaining support and momentum from the public and policy makers in Italy. In recent days, we are seeing quite a big change as the government recently implemented the transposition of the European Directive 2

Bob Tolliday

Aug 11, 2015
4 min

A Researcher’s Perspective

This post is a translation of a Dutch blog that was originally published on the Faces of Science website on March 12, 2015. Marieke Rienks, PhD student in Molecular Cardiology at Maastricht University Born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, Marieke Rienks completed her Master in Medicine in 2010 at Maastricht University. Her interest for Cardiology and Internal Medicine led her to pursue a PhD position focusing on the role of extracellular proteins in inflammatory heart muscle a

Bob Tolliday

Jul 27, 2015
7 min

Serendipity and Animal Research

Dr. Alberto Ferrari is a member of the managing board and of the scientific Committee of Pro-Test Italia, an association dedicated to correct scientific information on the topic of animal research in Italy. He has a Ph.D. in molecular medicine; during his training he has worked on animal models of psychiatric disorders. Currently, he is specializing in biostatistics and collaborates with the unity of medical statistics at the University of Pavia, Italy. Animal experimentation

Why I do Animal Research – Lars Dittrich, PhD, Neurobiologist

Bob Tolliday

Feb 13, 2015
4 min

Why I do Animal Research – Lars Dittrich, PhD, Neurobiologist

Lately, I came across a number of campaigns that called for an end of animal research in Germany. Some had a factual appearance, like the appeal from Doctors Against Animal Experiments not to donate to the ALS-Association. Others were heart wrenching, like the undercover video footage from a monkey lab by Stern TV. Yet others were open hate campaigns, like the newspaper advertisements agitating against Professor Kreiter. What they all have in common is that they create the im

Bob Tolliday

Feb 13, 2015
3 min

Sometimes My Job Seems Like a Secret

This article was originally published by Amy Davidson BSc (Hons), MBA, RQAP-GLP. Amy is Vice President, Operations at Kingfisher International Inc. She has worked as an animal care attendant, technician, quality assurance auditor and now manages a team of dedicated animal research professionals. Amy explains how talking about her profession has changed and the benefit of sharing accurate information about animal research all that will listen. This article has also appeared on