The Italian Project

In Italy, the use of animals in experiments is regulated by the legislative decree n. 116 of January 27th 1992. This decree incorporates the EEC directive n. 86/609/CEE and states that:

"The experiments about the article 3 [- to didactic purpose -] can be performed only when, to get the result, it is not possible to use other scientifically valid, reasonably and practically applicable methods, not involving the use of animals.
As a derogation to the article 3, paragraph 1, the Minister of Health authorizes the experimentation, only to simple didactic purpose, in case of necessity that admits of no exceptions and when it is not possible to resort to other demonstrative systems."

The other law in Italy that regulates the use of animals in education is n. 413 of October 12th 1993 - "Rules on Conscientious Objection in Animal Experimentation", which states:

"The Universities' competent boards have to make the animal experiments optional and they must adopt ways of teaching that does not involve the use of animals to allow students to pass the examination."

The law n. 413 compels Universities to provide students with ways of teaching that don't involve the use of animals. In case the alternative methods exist, the use of animals should not be allowed according to the decree n. 116.

There are therefore two possible situations in Italy:

1. The University uses animals in education and doesn't allow objectors to perform alternative experiments. In this case the University is defaulting against the law n. 413/93.

2. The University uses both animals and alternative methods allowing objectors to pass the examinations and graduate without performing animals tests. In this case the University is defaulting againt the Legislative Decree n. 116/92 since, if scientifically valid alternative methods exist, the use of animals is not allowed.

The only way for the Italian universities to fulfill these two laws is therefore to have just one laboratory activity, involving the use of alternative methods, for all the students.

WORK DONE: Professors were provided with a list of alternative methods from which they could freely choose the material they wished to receive; and a fund "Education without Animals" was created to purchase the selected methods. The fund was supported by animal rights associations and by Italian Municipalities.

As a results, 103 Italian scientific faculties (Faculties of Medicine and Surgery, Faculties of Natural, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Faculties of Pharmacy and Faculties of Veterinary Medicine) have now decided to stop the use animals for all demonstrative-teaching purposes.

The declarations that some faculties issued are particularly interesting:

University of Veterinary of Pisa declared: "It is possible to carry out education using demonstrative methods that do not involve the induction of pathological conditions on animals and/or the killing of any healthy animals."

University of Pharmacy of Pavia declared: "It is possible and sucessfully proved that traditional educational and demonstrative animal tests can be replaced by methods that do not involve the use of any dead or alive animals."

University of Sciences of Modena declared: "It is possible to replace the traditional didactic - demonstrative tests on animals by didactic - demonstrative tests that do not involve the use of any dead or alive animals and they are also economically cheaper."

University of Veterinary of Parma declared:

"The validity of the alternative methods is demonstrated."

University of Veterinary of Messina declared: "The alternative methods are valid and useful for both cultural and professional purposes."

University of Veterinary of Milano declared: "Videos and CD-Roms are valid alternative to the biological material coming from living animals."

University of Veterinary of Padova declared: "The alternative methodologies are modern, of a good scientific level and adequate to the European needs."

University of Veterinary of Teramo declared: "The alternative methods are efficient for education without any doubt".

The high percentage of institutions of higher learning in a developed country like Italy switching over to animal-free methods is a proven indication to show that it is no longer possible to pedagogically cite a need for the use of animals in education.

Precedents

The following Italian scientific faculties have already decided to no longer use animals for demonstrative-teaching purposes:

In Italy, 112 university courses don't use animals for teaching purposes - 78% of total; 28 universities are completely free from animal use for teaching: Benevento, Bologna, Brescia, Camerino, Catania, Catanzaro, Chieti, Ferrara, Foggia, L'Aquila, Lecce, Milano, Modena-Reggio Emilia, Napoli II Università, Cattolica di Roma, Campus Biomedico di Roma, Palermo, Parma, Piemonte Orientale, Teramo, Terni, Torino, Trieste, Udine, Urbino, Varese, Verona, Viterbo.

Here is the complete list of faculties/courses that don't use animals:

    Faculties of Pharmacy

  1. Università degli Studi in Bari
  2. Università degli Studi in Bologna
  3. Università degli Studi in Camerino
  4. Università degli Studi in Catania
  5. Università degli Studi in Catanzaro
  6. Università degli Studi in Chieti
  7. Università degli Studi in Ferrara
  8. Università degli Studi in Firenze
  9. Università degli Studi in Genova
  10. Università degli Studi in Messina
  11. Università degli Studi in Milano
  12. Università degli Studi in Modena e Reggio Emilia
  13. Università degli Studi in Napoli
  14. Università degli Studi in Padova
  15. Università degli Studi in Palermo
  16. Università degli Studi in Parma
  17. Università degli Studi in Pavia
  18. Università degli Studi in Perugia
  19. Università degli Studi of Eastern Piedmont
  20. Università degli Studi in Rome (La Sapienza)
  21. Università degli Studi in Sassari
  22. Università degli Studi in Siena
  23. Università degli Studi in Torino
  24. Università degli Studi in Trieste
  25. Università degli Studi in Urbino

    Faculties of Medicine and Surgery

  26. Università degli Studi in Ancona
  27. Università degli Studi in Bari
  28. Università degli Studi in Bologna
  29. Università degli Studi in Brescia
  30. Università degli Studi in Cagliari
  31. Università degli Studi in Catania
  32. Università degli Studi in Catanzaro
  33. Università degli Studi in Chieti
  34. Università degli Studi in Ferrara
  35. Università degli Studi in Firenze
  36. Università degli Studi in Foggia
  37. Università degli Studi in Genova
  38. Università degli Studi in L'Aquila
  39. Università degli Studi in Messina
  40. Università degli Studi in Milano
  41. Università degli Studi in Milano (II Università)
  42. Università degli Studi in Modena e Reggio Emilia
  43. Università degli Studi in Napoli (Federico II)
  44. Università degli Studi in Napoli (II Università)
  45. Università degli Studi in Padova
  46. Università degli Studi in Palermo
  47. Università degli Studi in Parma
  48. Università degli Studi in Perugia
  49. Università degli Studi in Piemonte Orientale
  50. Università degli Studi in Pisa
  51. Università degli Studi in Roma (La Sapienza)
  52. Università degli Studi in Roma (Tor Vergata)
  53. Università degli Studi in Roma (Cattolica)
  54. Università degli Studi in Roma (Campus Biomedico)
  55. Università degli Studi in Sassari
  56. Università degli Studi in Siena
  57. Università degli Studi in Terni
  58. Università degli Studi in Torino
  59. Università degli Studi in Trieste
  60. Università degli Studi in Udine
  61. Università degli Studi in Varese
  62. Università degli Studi in Verona

    Faculties of Veterinary Medicine

  63. Università degli Studi in Bari
  64. Università degli Studi in Bologna
  65. Università degli Studi in Camerino
  66. Università degli Studi in Messina
  67. Università degli Studi in Milano
  68. Università degli Studi in Napoli
  69. Università degli Studi in Padova
  70. Università degli Studi in Parma
  71. Università degli Studi in Pisa
  72. Università degli Studi in Sassari
  73. Università degli Studi in Teramo
  74. Università degli Studi in Torino
  75. Università degli Studi in Udine

    Faculties of Natural, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Course in Biological Sciences

  76. Università degli Studi in Bari (course in Biological Sciences)
  77. Università degli Studi in Benevento (course in Biological Sciences)
  78. Università degli Studi in Bologna (course in Biological Sciences)
  79. Università degli Studi in Bologna (course in Biological Sciences)
  80. Università degli Studi in Cagliari (course in Biological Sciences)
  81. Università degli Studi in Cagliari (course in Biological Sciences)
  82. Università degli Studi in Catania (course in Biological Sciences)
  83. Università degli Studi in Catania (course in Biological Sciences)
  84. Università degli Studi in Camerino (course in Biological Sciences)
  85. Università degli Studi in Camerino (course in Biological Sciences)
  86. Università degli Studi in Ferrara (course in Biological Sciences)
  87. Università degli Studi in Ferrara (course in Biological Sciences)
  88. Università degli Studi in Firenze (course in Biological Sciences)
  89. Università degli Studi in Genova (course in Biological Sciences)
  90. Università degli Studi in L'Aquila (course in Biological Sciences)
  91. Università degli Studi in Lecce (course in Biological Sciences)
  92. Università degli Studi in nobenova (course in Biological Sciences)
  93. Università degli Studi in Modena e Reggio Emilia (course in Biological Sciences)
  94. Università degli Studi in Modena e Reggio Emilia (course in Natural Sciences)
  95. Università degli Studi in Napoli (Federico II) (course in Biological Sciences)
  96. Università degli Studi in Napoli (Federico II) (course in Applied Biology)
  97. Università degli Studi in Napoli (II Università) (course in Biological Sciences)
  98. Università degli Studi in Palermo (course in Biological Sciences)
  99. Università degli Studi in Palermo (course in Natural Sciences)
  100. Università degli Studi in Parma (course in Biological Sciences)
  101. Università degli Studi in Parma (course in Natural Science)
  102. Università degli Studi in Piemonte Orientale (course in Biological Sciences)
  103. Università degli Studi in Pisa (course in Natural Sciences)
  104. Università degli Studi in Torino (course in Biological Sciences)
  105. Università degli Studi in Torino (course in Natural Sciences)
  106. Università degli Studi in Urbino (course in Natural Sciences)
  107. Università degli Studi in Urbino (course in Biological Sciences)
  108. Università degli Studi in Varese (course in Biological Sciences)
  109. Università degli Studi in Viterbo (course in Biological Sciences)