BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) — The European Parliament on Wednesday approved new legislation that aims to reduce the number of animals used in scientific experiments. It is aimed to strike a better balance between animal welfare and the need for research into diseases.

Scientific experiments have long been protested by animal welfare organizations, who call the experiments cruel to the animals, and call for alternative methods to be used. The new legislation approved on Wednesday will give European Union member states two years to comply with the new rules.

The legislation, which resulted from an agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council, requires national authorities of member states to assess the animal welfare implications of each experiment that is carried out. Those authorities will have to promote alternative testing methods and reduce the levels of pain inflicted on animals.

The approved legislation also tightens rules on the use of primates in scientific experiments by classifying tests according to severity and detailing the inspections needed to ensure compliance, the European Parliament said.

German European People’s Party politician Elisabeth Jeggle steered the legislation through the European Parliament, urging members of parliament to support it. “If you want animals to be protected, please give it your support,” she said during a debate prior to a vote on the legislation.

Wednesday’s legislation requires member states of the European Union to ensure that whenever an alternative method is recognized, national authorities have to ensure that the alternative method is used instead of animal testing. In addition, the legislation states that approval should be granted only to tests that use killing methods which cause the least pain or distress, while still providing scientifically satisfactory results.

Safeguard clauses have also been introduced to allow national governments to derogate from parts of the legislation and to react to emergency situations, but only for scientifically justifiable reasons and after informing the European Commission. The use of a safeguard clause will always be subject to approval by other EU member states.

The legislation broadly bans the use of great apes such as chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans for scientific testing. The Commission’s draft law would also have restricted the use of other primates such as ouistitis and macaques but members of the European Parliament felt this could hamper scientific research into neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s. Parliament and Council therefore agreed to allow the use of such primates if there is scientific evidence that the goal of the test cannot be achieved without using these species.

The new legislation also lists different categories of pain that may be inflicted during a test. These are classified as “non-recovery”, “mild”, “moderate” and “severe”.

Further, to avoid repeated suffering, the Commission proposed to allow the same animals to be re-used only if the test entails pain classed as “up to mild”. Members of parliament feared that applying criteria that are too strict would result in even more animals being used for tests, which would defeat the object. They decided, in agreement with national governments, to allow the re-use of animals even after tests involving “moderate” pain, provided a vet is consulted first.

To ensure the provisions are implemented, members of parliament stress the need for regular and effective inspections of bodies that carry out scientific experiments using animals.

The agreement with Council obliges national governments to ensure inspections are performed on at least 33% of laboratories that use animals, some of which should be unannounced. The Commission will oversee national inspection authorities.

In addition, the Commission is required to evaluate and review the proposed legislation five years after its entry into force.