Associated Press
BERLIN — Germany has become the first European Union country to guarantee animal rights in its constitution — a move that could curtail animal experimentation by the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries.
After debating the issue for a decade, lawmakers in Germany’s lower house of parliament voted 543-19 on Friday to add the phrase "and animals" to a clause obliging the state to respect and protect the dignity of humans. Fifteen lawmakers abstained.
In 1992, Switzerland passed a similar amendment recognizing animals as beings and not things.
Consumer Affairs Minister Renate Kunast, whose environmentalist Greens party lobbied for the change, emphasized it would not diminish human rights.
"People remain the most important," Kunast said.
German law already defined the conditions of captivity for animals, but activists claimed it did not go far enough to prevent animals from being used in research that animal-rights groups do not believe is necessary.
Under the new measure, the federal constitutional court will have to weigh animals’ rights against other rights, like those to conduct research or practice religion. That could mean tighter restrictions on using animals for testing cosmetics or nonprescription drugs.
Lawmakers said the government also may spend more research money on projects seeking alternatives to animal experimentation.
Animal rights activists also want to use the new protections against what they consider unduly long transport routes for animals.
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