In 2020, more than 550,000 animals died in laboratory tests in the country, according to government statistics, including 400,000 mice or rats, almost 4,600 dogs, 1,500 cats and 1,600 horses
ROME. The Swiss are called on Sunday to speak out on a referendum which, if approved, would make the Swiss confederation the first country to completely ban medical tests on animals. However, the request, supported by animal rights associations, does not seem to have much chance of passing. According to polls, only 26% of voters will vote in favor of the question, while 68% will vote against. Switzerland is home to an important pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for 9% of GDP and half of exports and relies on national champions such as Roche and Novartis. In 2020, more than 550,000 animals died in laboratory tests in the country, according to government statistics, including 400,000 mice or rats, nearly 4,600 dogs, 1,500 cats and 1,600 horses.
“It is cruel and superfluous to experiment on animals and I am sure that we can develop medicines without them,” Renato Werndli, the doctor who launched the referendum, told Reuters, “we should not exploit animals for our selfish purposes” . According to Werndli, animal testing can be replaced by computer simulations, biological chips – semiconductors that develop biochemical reactions – or microdosing on humans. Interpharma, an association of pharmaceutical companies, has a different opinion, according to which, if the referendum were approved “pharmaceutical research, clinical trials in hospitals and basic research in universities would no longer be possible”. “I think that in times of Covid we have seen how important it is to discover new vaccines and how important drugs are”, underlined the CEO of Idorsia, Jean-Paul Clozel, “well, they have been tested on animals”. Maries van den Broek of the University of Zurich disputes Werndli’s theses. “Since we don’t understand even 10% of the processes that take place within a tumor, it is impossible to use computer models or cell cultures to understand the complex biology of a cancer,” she explained. Before starting an animal test, scientists must prove the absence of an alternative and the importance of their research. “We use about 750 mice a year and they all die at the end of the experiment but there is no alternative,” added Van den Broek, “without these particular experiments, we would not be able to develop treatments that save lives.”
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