Vivisection in our country is being practised more and more. This is confirmed by a survey carried out by Lav, the Lega anti vivisezione, on practices in use in Italy in 2016.
The number of animals subjected to vivisection in Italy has increased, according to data from the Lega anti vivisezione (Lav) relating to 2016, despite alternative methods being identified as a priority both by law and within the European scientific and regulatory context.
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The number of guinea pigs used and killed every year in our country, for example, is not only failing to decrease, as one might expect, but is actually rising, going from 586,699 in 2015 to 611,707 killed in 2016. The statistics – Lav points out – refer to the number of animals used for experimental purposes in 2016.
According to data reported by the Lega anti vivisezione, the use of rabbits, horses, goats, mice, rats, chickens and fish is increasing, as is the use of macaques, which reached 454, compared with the 224 killed in 2015. In 2016, 4,610 animals were also reused — a procedure whereby a subject is put through one experiment and then subjected to a second — and 2,173 mice were bred solely for the maintenance of genetically modified animal colonies. This is a system in which genes or gene sequences carrying information linked to human disease are inserted into an animal's DNA, whereby half of the embryos die during the gestation period or are destroyed because they are born without the required genetic modification. All of this in a country like Italy, where didactic procedures on animals are prohibited, with exemptions permitted only for advanced university-level training.
The association notes in its press release that the figures cited, already striking in themselves, are significantly underestimated because they do not account for many categories such as animals that had already died when vivisected, invertebrates, or incompletely developed life forms, at the end of an ordeal that culminates in death. It is also striking that 280,322 animals are subjected to procedures classified as causing moderate or severe pain.
These deeply alarming figures come against a backdrop in which, at European level, efforts are being made to set limits on the aberrant practice of vivisection. "We must move beyond the outdated constraint of relying on the animal model, giving Italy the impetus to pursue the research of the future, for both ethical and scientific reasons, and turning towards research that is useful and reliable," says Michela Kuan, biologist and Lav spokesperson. "Research without animals is possible. In Europe, a different kind of science is being called for — one that identifies alternative methods as a priority, with the single, clear objective of research that does no harm to animals." The principles enshrined in various pieces of legislation have also been reaffirmed recently by the Ema, the European Medicines Agency. For the time being, however, no results are in sight.