Switzerland: Federal Council Rejects the Popular Initiative “Yes to a Future Without Animal Testing”

At its meeting today, the Federal Council defined the substantive direction for its message on the popular initiative “Yes to a Future Without Animal Testing”. It intends to recommend rejecting the initiative without proposing a direct or indirect counterproposal. According to the media release, the Federal Council believes that such a ban would have significant consequences, particularly for healthcare, as no alternative methods to animal testing currently exist in many areas of research. Furthermore, Switzerland’s position as a center for business, research, and education would be significantly weakened. However, the Federal Council shares the initiators' concern for protecting animals in research. It is therefore committed to strict regulation of animal testing and the promotion of alternative methods. Among other measures, it has launched the National Research Programme “Advancing 3R – Animals, Research, and Society” (NRP 79), which runs from 2022 to 2027, and supports the Swiss 3R Competence Centre (3RCC) to advance the implementation of the 3R principle.