Some great news from Italy today as the country’s top court suspends experiments intended to be conducted on six macaque monkeys by the University of Turin and University of Parma. We congratulate our friends at the Italian animal protection organisation LAV who led the campaign to stop the university research project, gathering signatures for a petition from over 425,000 people.

Having considered the facts of the case, including evidence submitted by Cruelty Free International, the Italian State Council overturned a decision made by the local regional administrative court in Lazio last December to allow the experiments to go ahead. According to the court’s ruling it is now up to university scientists as well as the Italian Ministry of Health to prove that the tests, intended for a study on human vision, are necessary and that no humane non-animal methods exist.

Our Senior Research Scientist, Dr Jarrod Bailey, who provided Italian authorities with information critiquing the proposed research, said: “We are delighted to have helped put a stop to these awful and highly invasive experiments, which would cause immense suffering, and irreversible damage to the macaques’ brains and their vision. With the availability and development of humane and human-relevant non-animal research methods, there is no reason why these intelligent and sensitive animals should be subjected to these horrific and unnecessary tests.”

To add your voice to those calling for the Italian Minister of Health to stop the experiments and free the macaques to recovery centres or animal welfare associations, please click here