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ACTION ALERT : International Campaign To Stop The Development of Animal Testing Lab in Malaysia
Sat, 24th Apr 2010, 02:54pm
24 APRIL 2010, KUALA LUMPUR - To mark World Day for Animals in Laboratories today, a coalition of animal protection groups has launched an international effort to stop the construction of an animal laboratory at the Masjid Tanah Industrial Park in Malacca, Malaysia. The proposal, which has only recently come to light, is a result of collaboration between the Indian contract testing company, Vivo Bio Tech, and the State government-owned Melaka Biotech.

The coalition, which includes the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), which represents animal protection organisations from 17 countries, has written to the Government urging it not to allow this facility to go ahead on humanitarian grounds. Also to be considered is the impact that allowing such a facility will have upon Malaysia’s international image in the world. A meeting to discuss the coalition’s objections in full has been requested.

Disturbingly, Malaysia currently has no legislation governing the use of animals in research. According to the company’s website (www.vivobio.com), Vivo Biotech carries out extensive animal research, including toxicity testing on a variety of species for a number of purposes, including the controversial use for cosmetic products. It has also been reported that primates could be sourced locally in Malaysia. The government of Malaysia made an important stand by re-instating the ban on the export of primates for research in 2008. Should the animal laboratory be allowed to be set up in Malacca, immense suffering, misery and death will be inflicted on thousands of animals, and potentially facilitate the trade in wild-caught macaques within Malaysia.

The coalition opposes the construction of this facility for both ethical reasons and the lack of scientific validity of using animals in testing. It argues that there is a large range of non-animal techniques that, as well as being a more humane approach to science, can also be cheaper, quicker and more effective. These include cell, tissue and organ culture; micro-organisms such as bacteria; molecular research; studies with post-mortem tissues; computer simulations, population studies (epidemiology) and ethical clinical research with human volunteers.

Click here to read the entire ACTION ALERT, and see how your voice can make a difference for the animals >>http://www.enewsletter.com.my/newsletter/N2276.html