Watchdogs welcome dedicated EC animal welfare commissioner but question conservative appointment

19 Sep 2024 --- Animal rights groups praise European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen for appointing a dedicated health and animal welfare commissioner but wonder whether Olivér Várhelyi of Hungary is the right choice.

“It is great to see that the new EC is finally listening to citizens’ demands, who have continuously asked for better EU laws to protect animal welfare. The inclusion of animal welfare in the title will ensure that this topic remains a priority in all relevant discussions, and we expect the revision of the animal welfare legislation to be the first file to be dealt with,” says Reineke Hameleers, CEO of lobby group Eurogroup for Animals.

Cruelty Free Europe has also pushed for a dedicated animal welfare commissioner who will prioritize developing and implementing a roadmap to phase out animal testing for chemicals and cosmetics. It sent a formal letter on September 13, stressing the need for a coordinated roadmap amid EC data showing nearly 19 million animals were harmed by scientific experiments in 2022.

“We strongly advocate for a dedicated commissioner for animal welfare to navigate competing interests and drive the EU toward a cruelty-free future… Meaningful progress and proper implementation of existing protections requires coordinated action involving many moving parts,” reads the letter.

“A commissioner with clear responsibility for animal welfare will greatly improve the chances of meaningful progress, but they must be able to influence all areas involving the use of animals in science… We know that non-animal science can deliver better results. The transition away from animal testing will not only save animals but also offer greater protection for human health, the environment, and better tools for EU industries.”  

Two years ago, more than 1.4 million EU citizens signed the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), “Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics — Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing,” which prompted the EC to create a timeline for the phase-out of animal testing for chemical safety assessments last year.

PETA supporters dressed as bruised and bloodied rabbits in front of EC headquarters (Image credit: PETA).Rising animal uses in tests

Cruelty Free Europe says it is working with animal protection NGOs to bring the EC and key European stakeholders together to influence the roadmap’s objectives and outcomes. It wants to see the EC president and commissioner for animal welfare collaborate in the ensuing years till the next election.

The NGO warns the position should not fall within the EC’s department responsible for agriculture as it does not cover scientific chemical experiments. It cites EC data showing 9.34 million tests on animals in the EU and Norway in 2022. That is down 8% from 2021 to 2022 but up 7% since 2020. The data also shows that 9.34 million animals were used, and 9.6 million were intentionally bred and killed in laboratories without being used in experiments in 2022 — bringing the total to 18.9 million. 

Dylan Underhill, Cruelty Free Europe’s head of Public Affairs, says: “The [commissioner for animal welfare] role has become even more crucial since the release of the EU’s animal testing statistics for 2022, which show that overall progress in reducing the number of animals used in science in the EU has stalled.”

PETA protest

Earlier this week, PETA protested outside the EC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, urging an end to animal testing in cosmetics under REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). Supporters dressed as “lifeless” rabbits hanging from a cosmetics pouch.

The NGO stresses that REACH Regulation allows animal testing for cosmetic ingredients to which factory workers may be exposed. To that end, Unilever, Clariant, and Vantage researchers pioneered next-gen chemical safety for workers to reduce animal testing.

Furthermore, PETA says a single test for a cosmetics ingredient can involve hundreds of animals, which are “time-consuming, expensive and seriously limited in garnering human and environmental protection data. Compared to human data, it was found that tests on animals for predicting skin damage were wrong in 45% of cases.”

The EC is holding its second workshop on the roadmap for phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments.Questionable candidate

There are concerns about Olivér Várhelyi and whether the Hungarian lawyer and diplomat, who served as commissioner for European enlargement and neighborhood relations, is suitable as a commissioner for health and animal welfare. Várhelyi is affiliated with Fidesz, a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary.

Tilly Metz, Green Member of the European Parliament and president of the Parliament’s Intergroup on animal welfare, posted on X: “Thanks for the animal welfare commissioner, von der Leyen, and for responding to citizens’ demands. Whether a Fidesz candidate is the right choice for this position remains to be seen.”

Politico says Várhelyi is seen as a “controversial figure” due to his “handling of the enlargement portfolio, his approach to candidate countries with rule of law and democracy concerns, and his abrasive leadership style.”

Stephanie Ghislain, political affairs manager at Eurogroup for Animals, is “very happy about the title [but] we reserve our views on the person.” Ghislain believes the ideal commissioner should have “some kind of experience” in animal welfare and “a heart for animals.”

Upcoming EC workshop

The EC is holding its second workshop on the roadmap for phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments as NGOs increase pressure on it.

Interested parties are invited to register to sign up for the October conference. It follows the first one, held last December after the ECI.

The EC says it is committed to developing steps to phase out animal testing for chemical safety assessments ultimately: “This roadmap will outline milestones and specific actions that would be pre-requisites for a transition toward an animal-free chemical legislation.”

By Venya Patel