Sign the petition to ask Italian Government, Parliament, and Regions to fund ethical, safe, and innovative science without the use of animals.
“Research without animal testing is the right cure” was the message that we at LAV launched on Saturday evening during a moving demonstration in Piazza dell'Unità in Trieste. Torches lit in the dark and images of animals to be saved symbolized the hope for truly ethical, modern science that respects the lives of all, animals and humans alike.
Gianluca Felicetti, president of LAV, and Michela Kuan, biologist and scientific director of LAV's Animal-Free Research department, reiterated the association's commitment, which has always been at the forefront of the fight against vivisection, to promoting science that can heal without killing.
A different path already exists, and that is animal-free research, in line with the objectives of the European Commission and with EU and Italian legislation. But to achieve this, concrete commitment is needed from the institutions, allowing for real change towards the only right treatment for everyone: humans, children, the elderly, animals, and the environment.
That is why we have launched a national mobilization scheduled for November 22 and 23, in which we invite all citizens to take to the streets and sign a petition asking the Italian Government, Parliament, and Regions to fund scientific research without animals.
Only in this way will hundreds of researchers have the opportunity to work and develop innovative projects, saving millions of animals and discovering effective treatments for those who need them, as well as raising the level of research in our country, which would once again become competitive and respected internationally.
Contrary to what is happening in other European countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany, which are investing in alternative methods without animal testing, Italy continues to fund vivisection, with over €1.3 billion invested each year, to the extent that, at present, there are no funds allocated to research methods that replace the use of animals. This is despite the fact that Legislative Decree 26/2014, which regulates this area, declares scientific research models without animals to be a priority and provides economic incentives for their support and dissemination. This is a serious shortcoming, therefore, which leaves our country behind in scientific, ethical, and cultural terms.