April 24th
World Laboratory Animal Day
April 24 has been laboratory animal day since 1979. It is meant to remind people that every day hundreds of millions of animals are locked in cages, suffering physically and psychologically because of experiments on them. In the Czech Republic, the organization Freedom of Animals focuses on the issue of experimental animals.
In the Czech Republic, around 300,000 animals are used for testing and research purposes each year, including laboratory mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigs, dogs, horses, and primates. However, this number does not include approximately 150,000 animals that are considered experimental but are actually ringed birds in nature. The use of animals in experiments is a great suffering, and we should stand up for their rights. Despite the ban on testing cosmetic products on animals in the EU since 2004, testing of cosmetic ingredients still occurs due to the requirements of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for the registration of chemicals. Therefore, some organizations have formed the initiative "Za pokusy bez zvířat" (For experiments without animals) to gather 1 million signatures for the European Commission to address their demands. These demands include protecting and strengthening the ban on testing cosmetic products on animals, changing the EU regulation on chemicals to ensure the protection of human health and the environment without additional animal testing requirements, and modernizing science in the EU by gradually ending all animal testing before the end of the current electoral term. The use and treatment of animals for experimental purposes are regulated by Czech and European laws.
