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ARCHIVED - Spanish airlines block transport of animals for laboratory testing
The embargo on live animals has hindered cancer and epilepsy research in the Canary Islands, Spain
Research facilities on the Canary Islands haven’t received a delivery of live mice in over a year, a factor which has put around 40 important scientific studies on hold, some of which involve investigating cures for cancer and epilepsy.
Several airlines have flatly refused to transport live animals for use in labs as they are suffering increasing pressure from animal rights groups and the general public.
Back in 2016, Iberia and Air Europa began an embargo on flying mice and other small animals to the Canary Island’s research centres, and the Army and Congress of Deputies eventually had to intervene. But the aerial veto resurfaced in March 2021 and the scientific community is the natural casualty: while bigger facilities can afford to charter planes with the specimens they need, this is simply not an option for labs on the Spanish islands.
And while researchers hope that one day animal testing will no longer be needed, for now, the transport of laboratory animals “is an essential element of medical and scientific advances throughout the world. Without the ability to move them, crucial scientific research looking for new treatments will stall.”
However unsavoury the concept, scientists in Spain have been quick to point out that animal testing formed an essential part of the development of Covid vaccines.
Following the 2016 embargo, Iberia eventually lifted its veto on flying mice to the Canary Islands, but the airline insisted it was done "exceptionally, to collaborate in closing projects that cannot be postponed."
Since then, IAG Cargo, the group's parent company for shipments, has made it clear: "IAG Cargo does not transport live animals for use in the laboratory, experimentation or exploitation", without adding further explanation.
For Kirk Leech, director of the European Association for Animal Research, it is a problem of public pressure. Most airlines have stopped transporting animals for use in research, "either for fear of a general boycott of their service by the public or insidious activist campaigns."
Regarding the Canary Islands, he insists that “the airline needs to understand the damage this is doing to research and ultimately to public health.”
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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