App. E— International Agreements Governing Animal Use • 413 
to improve the conditions of life and develop humane 
values in Europe, and to uphold the principles of par- 
liamentary democracy (6). 
Historically, the Council has been concerned about 
the treatment of animals. It has drafted Conventions 
on the protection of animals in international transport 
(1968), on those kept for farming purposes (1976), on 
slaughter (1979), and on conservation of European 
wildlife and natural habitats (1979). In 1971, the Coun- 
cil adopted Recommendation 621, which contained 
three relevant proposals: 
• Establish a documentation and information cen- 
ter on alternatives to animal use in testing and ex- 
perimentation. 
• Establish tissue banks for research. 
• Establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee of Experts 
to study the problems rising out of the abuse of 
live animals for experimental industrial purposes. 
The Committee was given the task of drafting in- 
ternational legislation setting out the conditions 
under which, and the scientific grounds on which, 
experiments on live animals may be authorized 
(15). 
The Ad Hoc Committee of Experts for the Protec- 
tion of Animals began its work on the Draft Conven- 
tion in 1978. In 1983, the committee presented a Draft 
Convention, guidelines for care and treatment, and a 
guidance note on data collection to the Council of Min- 
isters plenary sessions and seven working party meet- 
ings under three successive chairmen. The commit- 
tee was composed of experts from member countries. 
Observers from the United States and Europe, includ- 
ing representatives from several nongovernmental 
organizations (World Society for the Protection of Ani- 
mals, Federation of Veterinarians of the European Eco- 
nomic Community, European Federation of Pharma- 
ceutical Industries’ Associations, and the International 
Council for Laboratory Animal Science) were admitted 
to the committee’s meetings (2,14). 
The form of the Draft Convention follows an earlier 
one on the treatment of farm animals. Its preamble, 
restating the general objective of European unity in 
the context of protection of experimental animals, 
balances the need of “man in his quest for knowledge, 
health and safety ... to use animals where there is a 
reasonable expectation that the result will be to ex- 
tend knowledge or be to the overall benefit of man 
or animal, just as he uses them for food, clothing and 
as beasts of burden” against the “moral obligation to 
respect all animals and to exercise due consideration 
for their capacity for suffering and memory.” As stated 
in the preamble, the general objective of the Conven- 
tion is "to limit wherever practicable the use of ani- 
mals for experimental and other scientific purposes, 
in particular by seeking alternative methods to replace 
the use of animals” (2). 
Prospects for final ratification of the Draft Conven- 
tion remain unclear. Twice in 1983 the Council’s as- 
sembly failed to achieve the required two-thirds vote 
on the committee’s report to urge the Committee of 
Ministers to adopt it as soon as possible. Reported 
accounts stated that some delegates did not believe 
the Convention goes far enough in controlling animal 
experimentation. The assembly, however, rejected 
amendments that would have outlawed the use of ex- 
perimental animals (8). 
The Convention itself is divided into 10 parts, which 
are summarized below. 
General Principles 
Article 1 applies the Convention “to any animal be- 
ing used or intended for use in any experimental or 
other scientific procedure where that procedure may 
cause pain, suffering, distress, or lasting harm. It does 
not apply to any nonexperimental agricultural or clin- 
ical veterinary practice.” “Animal” means, "unless 
otherwise qualified . . . any live non-human vertebrate, 
including free-living larval and/or reproducing larval 
forms, but excluding other foetal or embryonic forms.” 
"Procedure" is defined to include: 
. . . any experimental or other scientific use of an ani- 
mal which may cause it pain, suffering, distress or last- 
ing harm, including any course of action intended to, 
or liable to, result in the birth of an animal in any such 
condition, but excluding the least painful methods ac- 
cepted in modern practice (i.e., "humane” methods) of 
killing or marking an animal; a procedure starts when 
the animal is first prepared for use and ends when no 
further observations are to be made for that procedure; 
the elimination of pain, suffering, distress or lasting 
harm by the successful use of anesthesia or analgesia 
or other methods does not place the use of an animal 
outside the scope of this definition. 
Article 2 provides that a defined procedure can be 
performed on an animal for only one or more of the 
following purposes, subject to other restrictions con- 
tained in the Convention: 
• the avoidance or prevention of disease, ill health 
or other abnormality, or their effects, in humans, 
vertebrate or invertebrate animals, or plants, 
including the production and the quality, efficacy, 
and safety testing of drugs, substances, or products; 
• the diagnosis or treatment of disease, ill health or 
other abnormality, or their effects, in humans, 
vertebrate or invertebrate animals, or plants; 
• the assessment, detection, regulation or modifi- 
cation of physiological conditions in humans, ver- 
tebrate and invertebrate animals, or plants; 
38-750 O 
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