Nine UK bioscience organisations working in the academic, commercial, and charitable sectors have issued a joint “declaration of concern” about the impact of a European Union draft directive on animal research. If implemented in full the directive would stop some animal research and increase costs and bureaucracy without achieving the intended goal of improving animal welfare, they say.

The new directive (86/609) proposes extensive changes to existing European legislation on animal experimentation. It would severely restrict or in some cases phase out research that involves non-human primates, and bring new species within the scope of legislation, including types of invertebrate and their larvae. It also aims to set new …