Germany giving animal rights in its constitution

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Germany votes for animal rights

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/17/germany.animals/index.html

 

<http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/17/germany.animals/index.html

 

BERLIN, Germany --Germany has become the first

European nation to vote to

guarantee animal rights in its constitution.

 

A majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted on

Friday to add " and

animals " to a clause that obliges the state to

respect and protect the

dignity of humans.

 

The main impact of the measure will be to restrict

the use of animals in

experiments.

 

In the end 543 lawmakers in Germany's lower house of

parliament voted in

favour of giving animals constitutional rights.

Nineteen voted against it

and 15 abstained.

 

The vote is expected to be approved by the Bundesrat

upper house this

summer.

 

Article 20a of the German Basic Law will then read:

" The state takes

responsibility for protecting the natural foundations

of life and animals in

the interest of future generations. "

 

The issue had been keenly debated among German

politicians for almost 10

years.

 

Animals in Germany already are protected through

legislation defining the

conditions in which they can be held in captivity,

but activists claimed it

did not go far enough to control the use of animals

in research.

 

With the new measure, the federal constitutional

court will have to weigh

animals' rights against other entrenched rights, like

those to conduct

research or practice religion. This could translate

bring tighter

restrictions on the use of animals for testing

cosmetics or nonprescription

drugs.

 

Consumer Affairs Minister Renate Kunast, a member of

the environmentalist

Greens party that has lobbied for many years to bring

animal rights into the

constitution, welcomed the change as groundbreaking,

but emphasised it would

not diminish human rights.

 

" People remain the most important, " Kunast said.

 

Conservative parliament members had previously

opposed the constitutional

changes, arguing that it could put the interests of

animals before those of

humans and be particularly damaging to Germany's

research industry.

 

Animal rights activists say they will use the

constitutional changes to try

and end to what they say are unduly long transport

routes for animals.

 

Lawmakers said the government will also look at

targeting more research

funding to projects that seek alternatives to using

animals for conducting

experiments.

--

reminder, please help Howard Lyman find volunteers to

do mad cow research for his upcoming documentary.

Tell your friends be part of a historical event.

 

www.madcowboy.com

 

contact marr if anyone wants to

volunteers

 

 

 

 

 

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