PodcastTurkish activists launch petition against university’s animal experimentation lab
Turkish animal rights defenders have launched a petition against the animal experimentation laboratory project of Izmir’s Dokuz Eylül University. “We will not open this torture center,” the activists said.
Cihan Başakçıoğlu / Gazete Duvar
Turkish animal rights defenders have launched a petition against the animal experimentation laboratory project of Izmir’s Dokuz Eylül University.
The Experimental Animals Research Laboratory project is planned to be completed in May. The project was initiated In line with the call of the Development Ministry in 2015 with the support of 46 institutions, and preclinical studies and experiments will be carried out on animals.
Animal rights defenders in the province took action against the project, which cost 28 million liras, and launched a petition.
The activists emphasized that animals weighing 10-25 kilograms will be sentenced to various tortures and eventually death under the name of "experiment," while there are many alternative scientific methods to animal experimentation.
They said companies see the life of animals as "profit," conduct experiments under the name of "science" and kill more than 100 million animals in the world every year.
“We will not allow this murder house to be opened under the name of ‘science,’ which will torture and conduct experiments on defenseless animals and usurp their right to life. We will not open this torture center,” they added. 12,000 signatures have been collected as part of the petition.
On the other hand, officials from the Dokuz Eylül University told Gazete Duvar that the ethical committees decide if an experiment is appropriate to be conducted. "Only animals such as mice, rats and guinea pigs, will be used in experiments as defined in the regulation of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry. No animals will be procured from nature or animal shelters (cat, dog). It is illegal to procure these animals," they said.
(English version by Alperen Şen)
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