Table ronde – Faut-il interdire l' #ExpérimentationAnimale ? – ENS Lyon, 11/05/2026

On Monday, May 11th, Edwin Louis-Maerten, Guillaume Reho, Sarah Zanaz, Romain Barnault and Nicolas Marty joined the SentiENS Lyon team at the École normale supérieure de Lyon for a recorded roundtable discussion on the question: "Should animal experimentation be banned?" One hour of presentations followed by two hours of audience discussion make this recording a unique archive of its kind, foregrounding the concept of "speciesism" and restoring it to its central place in the debate on animal experimentation. Ultimately, the question becomes: what will remain of animal experimentation without speciesism? CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and presentations 05:42 Nicolas Marty – Framing the debate 12:08 Guillaume Reho – Definitions, regulation and sentience 23:49 Romain Barnault – Regulatory frameworks 35:20 Edwin Louis-Maerten – The 3Rs and ethics 49:12 Sarah Zanaz – Animal experimentation and speciesism 01:06:07 Q1 – Distinguishing based on purpose 01:12:36 Q2 – Defining what is acceptable 01:18:04 (Follow-up on Q1 – Ranking purposes) 01:20:50 Q3 – Speciesism and society 01:26:16 Q4 – Sentience, speciesism and anthropocentrism 01:36:52 Q5a – Communication around animal experimentation 01:46:55 Q5b – The expansion of the Rousset primate breeding facility 01:50:56 Q6 – Should domestication be stopped? 01:56:30 Q7 – The direct benefit principle applied to non-humans 02:02:11 (Follow-up on Q5 – Rousset and internal pressure within the CNRS) 02:08:29 Q8 – What about speciesism in livestock farming? 02:10:49 (Follow-up on Q5 – Who holds the knowledge?) 02:20:08 Q9 – Wildlife and animal experimentation 02:23:28 Q10 – Communicating about animal experimentation 02:35:12 Q11 – Animal experimentation in education 02:47:54 Q12 – The immorality of speciesism and uncertainty about sentience 02:57:54 Conclusion