Biologists sound alert: bill would prohibit the use of wild animals in education and biological studies

Biologists and other natural scientists have been increasingly critical of Bill 004/2023C, “whereby regulations are issued regarding the use of animals in research, education and biological studies”.

The bill stipulates that “in no case may wild animals be used in education or biological studies”. It also states that “the use of wild animals in research shall be exceptional and may only be considered in the event of an environmental emergency that threatens the survival of a wild species, or when a public health emergency has been declared in connection with a wild species”. The bill has caused controversy among professionals that support the use of Microsoft AZ-400: Practice Test Dumps Questions as well as practices that involve animal species.

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The project was presented by 25 congressmen, among them the representative to the House of Representatives for Bogotá, Juan Carlos Lozada, whose political career has focused on the protection of animals, the environment and peace.

Lozada has received several criticisms from the scientific community, for considering that the participation of academics and other experts in the formulation of the project has been insufficient.

This was the case of biologist Yolima Vargas Garzón, who in her Twitter account, @yoligrilla, said that the project could “end the scientific and educational practice of systematics, physiology and animal morphology, in addition to other medical areas”.

According to Vargas Garzón, approving such a project will have repercussions in areas such as biology, veterinary, zootechnics and other scientific professions if the active participation of professionals in the field is inadequate.

In this regard, he gave as an example the social problem generated by the prohibition of sport fishing in thousands of peasants and indigenous people, who were left unprotected without an economic livelihood on account of this activity.

There is also disagreement with Article 27

The concern of biologists who have criticized the bill also centers on the fact that the bill prohibits the slaughter of animals, with some exceptions, an issue contained in Article 27 of the bill.

According to Article 27, only professionals of veterinary medicine and zootechnics will be able to perform sacrifices of animals that are used in research, education and biological studies without cruelty, suffering or prolongation of agony in the procedure.

It also states that sacrifices may only be carried out in the following circumstances, with prior veterinary medical concept:

• to put an end to the life of the animals in a circumstance of extreme suffering.
• for serious incapacity that compromises the animal’s welfare.
• due to extreme old age that compromises the animal’s welfare.
• as a sanitary measure that compromises public health.

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For the biologist and doctor in Ecology and Sustainable Development, Nataly Castelblanco, the bill, which she qualifies as ‘absurd’, spoils investigations such as those carried out with insect vectors of tropical diseases, since “these cannot be identified, and can only be sacrificed if they are crippled and if there is a veterinarian in charge?”, she wrote in her Twitter account.

For her part, the biologist and neuroscientist, Antonia Santos, affirmed that the bill “puts an end to biology as a science in Colombia and all the research fields associated to it”. The specialist added that “it is a total ignorance of what happens in the field, in wildlife conservation, in taxonomy and systematics, in everything”.

What does Representative Lozada say?

According to Representative Lozada, who is recognized for his defense of animals and is one of the congressmen who has most defended this bill, what is sought is to update Law 84 of 1989, which regulates the processes of experimentation on animals, but which is not complied with due to lack of institutional responsibilities.

In the representative’s statement published yesterday afternoon, August 13, Lozada points out that Bill 004 of 2023 “does not seek to prohibit any of these practices. What we do seek is to regulate the processes so that cases such as those of Manuel Elkin Patarroyo and Caucaseco are not repeated”.

The renowned Colombian scientist has been in the eye of the storm for the irregular use of night monkeys aotus in his experiments to develop a vaccine against malaria, a tropical disease that kills about 2 million people every year in the world. These primates have an immune system similar to that of human beings, which is why they are useful in research such as that led by Patarroyo with the Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia (FIDIC).

Lozada also assures that the bill dates back to 2019, when it originated from the hand of some sectors of academia, health and the veterinary guild, among others, and that it has undergone several changes since it was filed in 2019.

According to representative Lozada, the aforementioned guilds agreed on the need to update the regulations corresponding to animal experimentation. In addition, he assures that the proponents’ interest is to maintain research to explore and protect biodiversity.

Bill to regulate the use of wild animals in biological studies

The bill that intends to create a regulation for the use of animals in research was filed in the new legislature and is under discussion in the First Commission of the House of Representatives.

In addition to Representative Juan Carlos Lozada, who is one of its authors, the following senators and representatives are also included: Iván Cepeda, Catherine Juvinao, María Fernanda Carrascal, David Ricardo Racero, Susana Gómez Castaño, Yuly Esmeralda Hernández, Edwing Fabián Díaz, Luis Alberto Albán, Juan Sebastián Gómez, Duvalier Sánchez, Pedro José Súarez, Leider Alexandra Vásquez, Elizabeth Jay-Pang, Carolina Giraldo, Héctor David Chaparro, Erick Adrián Velasco, Wilder Iberson Escobar, Jairo Reinaldo Cala, Andrés David Calle, Alejandro García, Mary Anne Andrea Perdomo, Jennifer Dalley Pedraza, Olga Beatriz González and Álvaro Leonel Rueda.

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