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e-4952 (Animals)

E-petition
Initiated by Anne Birthistle from North Vancouver, British Columbia

Original language of petition: English

Petition to The Minister of Health

Whereas:
  • In 2021, the European Parliament voted to phase out the use of animals in experimentation and testing;
  • In the US, passage of the recent Medical Modernization Act has seen an end to the mandate for the testing of new drugs on animals;
  • Technical advances in human-relevant testing and research have already successfully demonstrated increased efficiency, reliability, cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability; and
  • Institutions such as the Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods at the University of Windsor stand as an example of academic excellence and broader progress in Canadian medical research. Yet such centres remain underfunded while Canada's animal use numbers stay high, at over 3.5 million per year according to the latest reporting from the Canadian Council on Animal Care.
We, the undersigned, Residents of Canada, call upon the Minister of Healthto
1. Direct Health Canada to end the entrenched requirement for the testing of new drugs on animals in favour of sophisticated, human-relevant and reliable evidence methods;
2. Enact policies that promote health research and testing innovation and which will save millions of animal – and possibly many human - lives each year in Canada;
Reallocate funding from repetitive animal testing-based science to the development, validation and implementation of scientifically and morally superior methods; and
Uphold Canada's responsibility as a signee of the International Cooperation on Alternative Test Methods (ICATM) to reduce and replace the use of animals in biomedical research, training and testing.
Open for signature
May 3, 2024, at 4:03 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
July 2, 2024, at 4:03 p.m. (EDT)
Photo - Don Davies
Vancouver Kingsway
New Democratic Party Caucus
British Columbia