The Rio de Janeiro city council is expected to consider a groundbreaking law in August that would ban all animal experimentation within the Brazilian city.
The proposed law was approved by the city council in March, but then vetoed by the mayor. The council is expected to decide in August whether or not to override the veto.
The bill would outlaw “vivisection as well as the use of animals in experimental procedures which cause physical or psychological suffering.” It would stop all animal experimentation, including product testing and medical experimentation, and shut down departments of biomedical research institutes such as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science is calling on researchers to unite to oppose the bill, which has been criticized and impractical and unenforceable, and as a threat to medical advancement.
On the other hand, Claudio Cavalcanti, the councilman who is sponsoring the law, is urging animal welfare activists around the world to express their support for the measure by contacting members of the city council.
Cavalcanti writes: "In case the Mayor's veto is overturned, this law will represent the liberation of animals from laboratories in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and this will set a national and international precedent to end the systematic and continuous torture of millions of animals worldwide."
Cavalcanti, a former television star, was elected largely on the basis of his position in favor of animal rights. He has previously sponsored an unsuccessful bill to ban the production of animal fur, and a successful measure to stop the use of animals to propel vehicles. Cavalcanti has also offered up himself as a human test subject to replace animals used in drug trials.
For more information on animal testing, please see
The National Anti-Vivisection Society. Thanks to
Kinship Circle for making us aware of this story.