Government’s ‘landmark’ legislation regrettably misses the mark for animals in laboratories
The delayed Environment Bill has finally been passed by the UK Parliament, and while important protections for human and environmental health have been widely welcomed, the Bill has been a missed opportunity for the Government to do more to end animal testing.
As the Bill passed through parliament, we urged government to put a plan with reduction and replacement targets in place to move away from cruel and outdated chemical experiments on animals and worked with cross-party parliamentarians from both the Commons and the Lords who tabled and backed numerous amendments to the proposed legislation.
Despite strong support for reducing and replacing animals in chemicals testing, the amendments were rejected by government ministers during the Bill’s committee stages.
Commenting on the passage of the Bill, our Director of Public Affairs, Kerry Postlewhite said:
“We are grateful to all MPs and Peers who tabled and supported amendments to end animal tests and for the efforts of all our supporters who contacted their MP and joined us in calling on the Government to act throughout the Bill’s passage.
“The Environment Bill was a fantastic opportunity to legislate independently from the EU and to begin to bring chemical tests on animals to an end in the UK. Time and again the Government has said that Brexit is an opportunity to do more for animals, yet disappointingly they failed to take up the baton this time, rejecting amendments which would have offered change for animals in laboratories.
“Government must reflect on this missed chance and do more to ensure that Brexit is an opportunity to put in place a forward-looking animal-free UK chemicals regime.”
If you haven’t signed our #TargetZero petition to end animal experiments in the UK, there’s still time! The petition remains open until 7th January. Please sign and share.