3R plans a ‘sop’

The government announcement of a new research centre to promote the Reduction, Refinement and Replacement of animal experiments (the so-called 3Rs) is intended as a sop to the increasing number of people who oppose animal experiments on the grounds that they are both cruel and irrelevant to the needs of human medicine.

The only R that has any merit is Replacement – given that experimenting on other species produces results that cannot be reliably applied to people. The research community – overseen by the Home Office – is already supposed to be doing all that’s possible to Reduce the number of animals used, Refine the experiments so that they cause minimum pain and Replace animal use ‘whenever possible’. And yet animals continue to be pointlessly poisoned, surgically mutilated, genetically manipulated and subjected to psychological and other torments.

The Home Office was recently asked by Mike Hancock MP whether it had conducted research or evaluated research by anyone else into whether such experiments have direct relevance to people. The answer – incredibly – was not only had it not conducted or assessed such research but that it had no plans to do so.

The UK has the potential of becoming a world leader in the field of medical research using non-animal methods. However, a choice must be made between good science (i.e. human based research) and bad science (animal based).

Andrew Tyler, Director Animal Aid

Notes to Editors

• For more information contact Andrew Tyler 01732 364546.
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