Victims of Charity
Our Victims of Charity campaign focuses on the involvement of medical research charities in animal experiments, and urges people not to donate money to charities that conduct or fund tests on animals.
Not only is animal research cruel, it is also a waste of the public’s money, as the results cannot be reliably applied to human patients.
Medical research charities play an important role when it comes to human health, yet many of them, including Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Society and Parkinson’s UK, conduct or fund invasive research on animals. This campaign, through exposés of the research they have supported, aims to dispel some of the secrecy surrounding this research, and let the public know what their donations are paying for. Ultimately, we want to persuade medical research charities to stop funding cruel and unreliable animal experiments.
Not only is animal research harmful to animals, it is also potentially harmful to people. Animals do not get the same diseases as we do, and different species react very differently to drugs and procedures. Drugs that are shown to be safe in animals have often later proved to be dangerous in humans, while valuable cures and treatments can be missed if they fail in animal tests.
Stopping animal experiments will not mean an end to scientific progress. Modern, state-of-the-art, non-animal methods allow us to obtain data that is more accurate and relevant to human health, and therefore more likely to lead to effective treatments.
There are many different ways you can take part:
- Donate only to those charities that do not conduct or fund animal experiments. View our list.
- Order copies of our leaflets to distribute on the high street, or to friends, family and colleagues.
- Read our report, Victims of Charity, we focus on the four charities mentioned above, and the conditions they fund research into – cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. These charities were chosen both because they are well-known organisations and because these diseases are among the most prevalent in the UK today. We examined past and contemporary animal research in these areas, and found not only appalling suffering, but also a lack of significant health benefits to people. You can view the report online.
- Email the letters page of your local paper – getting a letter into print is a great way to get the message out to thousands of people. Here is some suggested text.
- Set up a street stall to help raise awareness of this issue. Contact us to order resources.