City council will investigate whether beagles were mistreated.

Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia – An external commission of federal deputies will be created to investigate animal abuse, announced today (22) the president of the Chamber, deputy Henrique Eduardo Alves (PMDB-RN). The group was motivated by the case of the Instituto Royal laboratory, in São Roque, in the interior of São Paulo.

In the early hours of Friday (18), activists broke into the institute and removed 178 beagle dogs, which were being used in scientific tests. The activists claim that the animals were victims of mistreatment. The institute's press office denies the allegation.

The commission will be coordinated by Congressman Delegado Protógenes (PCdoB-SP) and the rapporteur will be Congressman Ricardo Tripoli (PSD-SP). The rapporteur will act as custodian of the dogs (the individual entrusted with the safekeeping of property during a legal process) that are rescued, while the police investigate the actions of the activists and the responsibilities of the laboratory.

Representative Protógenes visited the site where the beagles were kept and described the environment as a "concentration camp." "The environment I saw there is a torture chamber. Excuse me, but it looked like a Nazi concentration camp," said the commission coordinator.

A work schedule for the commission will still be drawn up. However, it is already planned that the coordinator will receive, next Friday (25), the civil inquiry made by the Public Ministry in São Paulo about the laboratory. The other members of the commission also intend to visit the facilities.

The Civil Police in São Roque opened two inquiries to investigate the actions of the activists and the Royal Institute. One of the inquiries will investigate allegations of animal abuse perpetrated by the institute. The second inquiry will investigate allegations of aggravated theft and property damage committed by the protesters during the invasion of the premises.

Edited by: Carolina Pimentel

Concea states that the beagles were not mistreated.

Reporter for Agência Brasil

São Paulo – No animal removed from the laboratory of the Royal Institute, in São Roque, in the interior of São Paulo state, suffered mistreatment or mutilation, declared the coordinator of the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Concea) and member of the board of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), physician Marcelo Morales.

Morales said that the mistreatment of dogs of that breed beagle, The suspicion that led animal rights activists to invade the laboratory in the early hours of last Friday could even harm the experiments. "If the animals suffer during the research, it interferes with the experiment itself. It is neither ethical nor scientifically in our interest for animals to suffer; quite the contrary. The animals must be healthy, stress-free, and in good condition in order to obtain reliable results," he said.

According to the doctor, the institute was monitored by CONCEA, a council linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Ministry of Health, in tests for adjuvant drugs in cancer treatment, as well as antibiotics and phytotherapeutic products from the Brazilian flora, made from molecules discovered by Brazilians. "It was a laboratory that supported Brazil's independence in relation to new pharmaceuticals," he stated. "Millions of reais were thrown away, and years of research for the benefit of Brazilians and animals were also lost."

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) estimates that there are around 400 institutions in the country that are accredited or in the process of accreditation to conduct experiments on animals. The doctor emphasized that Brazil has a regulatory framework with strict laws to control this research.

Morales emphasized that nowhere in the world prohibits animal testing. “Research that Brazil is conducting and which is becoming prominent, such as stem cell research, would not be possible without the use of animals. Research on gene therapy, and other important research in cancer treatment being developed by Brazilian researchers, depends on the use of animals,” he said.

The Concea member further clarified that there are few alternative methods to replace animals in testing, and developing such a methodology could take between 15 and 20 years. However, in the cosmetics industry, these techniques are used more efficiently. "One example is..." Gift Sets "It's made of artificial human skin. The most reputable industries in the world don't use animals for cosmetic testing," he explained.

According to Morales, the dogs of the breed beagle They are standard worldwide for drug testing due to their characteristics. Besides their docile temperament and ease of handling, they have a greater similarity in conditioning to the human organism. The doctor said that the dogs removed by the activists lived in a protected environment, called a vivarium, without contact with the outside world. "You can't remove animals that have been raised in vivariums so suddenly, because they can die. They are at risk right now," he said.

Editing: Fabio Massalli