Press Release
For immediate release
25th April 2010

World Day for Animals in Laboratories commemorated in Russia through “Science without Cruelty” competition

World Day for Animals in Laboratories commemorated in Russia through “Science without Cruelty” competition Russian Animal Rights Center (VITA) has joined forces with a number of animal protection organisations from around the world to highlight the issue of animal experiments in Russia with a ‘Science without Cruelty’ competition. The competition, to judge the best poster and composition submission by students, has been sponsored by the BUAV, the UK’s leading organization campaigning to end animal experiments, and has received widespread interest. The winners will be announced to coincide with World Day for Animals in Laboratories (24th April), an international event to commemorate the millions of animals who suffer and die in laboratories around the world.

The award ceremony will take place at the Russian Academy of Science, Moscow (Leninskiy Prospekt, 33, 12.00pm) on Monday 26th April. The honorable guest from the Academy will be Yablokov Aleksey. Over 3,000 submissions from all across Russia and former USSR countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, have been received.

The ‘Science without Cruelty’ competition is based on two films; including the “Humane Education in the CIS countries.” This unique film, the first of its kind in Russia, was made by VITA and InterNICHE (International Network for Humane Education) with the support of the German protection group, DAAE (Doctors Against Animal Experiments). It focuses on modern, progressive alternatives to animal experiments, the world student movement against terminal laboratories, the struggle of CIS students for the right to get a humane education and the opinions of professors who introduced alternatives. The shooting of the film took place in 10 universities which had introduced alternatives to animal experiments, four of which are Russian, four Ukrainian and two Belarussian. The project has also been supported by the IAAPEA (The International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals)

VITA’s President, Irina Novozhilova states: “This competition has played an important role in challenging the long standing opinion held in Russia that using animals in research is acceptable. Up until now very few people have questioned the ethics of using animals in research and most are totally unaware of the non-animal alternatives that exist. However, the large number of submissions that have been received by VITA for this competition and the feedback from teachers has been extremely encouraging and demonstrates that this important issue is at last being taken seriously.”

BUAV’s Chief Executive, Michelle Thew states: “The use of animals in research is a global issue. The BUAV is pleased to support the important work carried out by VITA in Russia and to sponsor this competition. It is important that people are made aware of the many non-animal alternatives that are available and realise that animals do not have to suffer and die in laboratories.”

For further information, please contact Elena Maroueva from VITA (www.vita.org.ru) at Elena-Maroueva@yandex.ru or Sarah Kite from the BUAV (www.buav.org) at sarah.kite@buav.org