Britain's Shame

New figures reveal 15 year vivisection high


Home Office figures just released (23 July 2007) show that during 2006 the
number of animal experiments in Britain broke the three million barrier.
Only those experiments that potentially cause pain, suffering, distress or
lasting harm are counted. The latest figures represent the highest number of
animals sacrificed for 15 years and places Britain at the top of the
European cruelty league:

* All animal experiments up by 115,834 to 3,012,032
* Experiments with no anaesthetic up by 109,200 to 1,856,200.
* Poisoning experiments up by 27,400 to 420,500.
* Experiments on mice up 106,022 to 2,067,071
* Experiments on rats down 18,359 to 406,168
* Experiments on birds up 1,272 to 114,428
* Experiments on guinea pigs up 1,165 to 30,184
* Experiments on sheep up 7,048 to 36,377
* Experiments on cattle down 13,776 to 5,334
* Experiments on cats up 24 to 524
* Experiments on dogs down 25 to 7,595
* Experiments on primates down 448 to 4,204
* Experiment on fish up 41,212 to 274,066
* Radiation experiments on all animals up by 2,769 to 11968.
* Inhalation experiments on dogs up 702 to 732
* Experiments on GM animals up 77,900 to 1,035,343

Scientific reviews and the TGN1412 affair are highlighting the failures of
animal experiments and their lack of relevance to human medicine. The
growing toll of suffering and killing in British laboratories is testament
to the Government's cavalier approach to both science and animal protection,
and highlights New Labour's failure to fulfil its pledge to reduce animal
research that it made prior to coming to power in 1997.

Dr Dan Lyons, Uncaged's Campaigns Director, comments:
Significantly, there's a growing consensus across a wide range of opinion -
not just animal rights campaigners - that the Home Office is failing to
enforce the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. There are only a tiny
number of Inspectors, most of whom have a background in animal
experimentation. Not surprisingly, Inspectors have neither the resources nor
the inclination to examine the justifications and predictions put forward by
animal research applicants.

Consequently, the likelihood of useful results is exaggerated while often
severe animal suffering is overlooked and trivialised. For example, two
major research projects in the last decade have been approved on the basis
of claims in the application form that they would result in clinical trials
of pig organ transplants. But if Inspectors had bothered with the even the
most elementary scrutiny, such claims would clearly have been seen as
grossly exaggerated, as proved to be the case. In practice, hundreds of
thousands of animals are suffering severely in pointless, ill-conceived
experiments.

To make matters worse, a current Home Office review is seeking to weaken the
regulatory system yet further. Hiding behind the euphemism of 'Better
Regulation', the Home Office is in the process of implementing the drug
industry's demands for a reduction in both the information required in
project licences and reporting requirements. This will make it even more
difficult to conduct the so-called 'cost-benefit assessment' of
applications, which is supposed to be the cornerstone of the 1986 Act and is
meant to determine whether animal experimentation projects are legal and the
level of pain permitted. It will also further undermine public
accountability in this highly controversial area. As it is, our ongoing
opinion research currently shows that the public overwhelmingly believes
that animal experimentation laws are not properly enforced.

By intensifying their systematic bias towards the animal testing industry,
the Government is riding roughshod over the recommendations of its own
expert advisory committee and the public, who both wish to see effective
independent scrutiny of animal experimentation proposals and targeted action
towards its abolition. As an initial step, we need a debate in the House of
Commons to illuminate the role of the Animal Procedures Committee -
supposedly a key innovation of the 1986 Act - and why the Government is
choosing to ignore its mild recommendations for improvements in favour of
the demands of animal researchers to be a law unto themselves.


Action

Please visit www.vote4animals.org.uk/lobby.htm
to lobby your MP to sign EDMs
811 and 1718, which get to the heart of the political failures that are
causing increased suffering for animals in British labs

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