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SWISS TO BAN ANIMAL TESTING AND YES TO RESEARCH THAT BRINGS SAFETY AND PROGRESS

INTERNATIONAL: On Sunday, 13 February 2022 the Swiss electorate voted on the Popular initiative "Yes to the ban on animal and human experiments – Yes to research that brings safety and progress".

A German Doctor who initiated referendum on ban on lab testing on animals, Dr. Renato Werndli says animals should not suffer for the sake of humans. He has also said, they have spoken to people who develop research methods. Animals experiments for scientific reasons are very questionable and often lead to volatile results. Using animals as instruments is difficult because they also have moods, emotions, a psyche.

Dr. Renato Werndli says scientists must make preliminary tests meticulous and thorough, and look at alternative methods such as biochips with cell cultures and organ cultures, but also computer simulations, epidemiological studies, look at everything possible. And only when one is totally certain, one should, not have experiments on people, but the first application on humans. It could be used as a therapy on ill people who could benefit from this. Today the experiments are only on healthy people who are actually only harmed by the experiments.

More than 550,000 animals died in laboratory tests in 2020 in Switzerland, according to government statistics. The figure includes 400,000 mice and rats, nearly 4,600 dogs, 1,500 cats and 1,600 horses. Primates, cows, pigs, fish and birds were also killed during and after experiments.

Dr. Werndli has said research methods such as biochips - tiny chips that host large numbers of biochemical reactions - computer simulations or microdosing of humans were more effective than animal testing.

The result of the referendum will be binding.

The ban is not expected to pass, however, to the relief of the pharmaceuticals sector, which has warned the move would halt new drug development and force companies and researchers to relocate abroad.

Pharmaceuticals lobby group Interpharma says the sector, which includes companies such as Roche and Novartis, contributes 9% to the Swiss economy including indirect effects, and generates nearly half of Swiss exports.

Interpharma has led the industry's opposition, saying the proposals would be devastating if adopted.

Pharma bosses have warned that an animal testing ban could lead to the end of new drugs.

Maries van den Broek of the University of Zurich conducts research that implants tumours into mice to study how their immune system can be strengthened to fight cancer. Before scientists start an animal experiment, they must prove there is no alternative and their research is important, she said.

"The questions we need to answer to make progress in biology, to develop better treatment, to understand disease processes - we need to look at the entire biological system of the organism," she said, adding that animal testing is tightly regulated in Switzerland and thus is not cruel.

The latest opinion polls show only 26% of voters in favour of a ban and 68% against.

Werndli remains hopeful of success.

Animal experiments are permitted in Switzerland, as they are in many other countries. They are used in the development of drugs and therapies that offer better treatment of human and animal diseases.

Switzerland has one of the strictest laws on animal testing in the world: an animal experiment is only authorised if the results cannot be obtained by other means. In addition, the benefit to society must justify the stress placed on the animals. Furthermore, researchers may only work with as many animals as is absolutely necessary in their experiments, and they must keep any stress on the animals to a minimum.

The popular initiative calls for a ban on animal experiments. It would also lead to a ban on the import of products that have been developed using animal testing. Lastly, the initiative demands that research that does not involve animal experiments should receive at least the same level of state support as is currently provided for research involving animal experiments. Experiments on human beings would also be banned. If the initiative were accepted, no more new medicines would be developed in Switzerland using animal experiments, whether for humans or for animals. These medicines would include vaccines. Research and development on medicines or other products such as plant protection products would be restricted and possibly relocated abroad. 


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