Pressure pot

A spate of incidents has triggered calls for Germany to end all animal experiments

Germans are generally wary of using animals in scientific study, perhaps partly due to a history of cruel experiments on animals during the Nazi era. Resistance to animal experiments has always been high in the country, but recent cases involving leaked information and video footage from several esteemed laboratories have stoked the debate.

In response to such incidents, scientific organisations across Germany have joined forces to launch the initiative Tierversuche Verstehen (Understanding Animal Experiments), aiming to provide information on research animals, their care and their use.