UK UNIVERSITIES TEST ‘ILLICIT’ DRUGS ON ANIMALS
Press release: BUAV report reveals taxpayers' fund cocaine,
ecstasy and cannabis tests on animals.
Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been used to fund animal testing of banned substances at UK universities in the last ten years, a new report from leading campaigning group the BUAV reveals.
The report - Creatures of Habit, by BUAV scientist Dr Katy Taylor - shows UK universities have repeatedly won licenses from the Home Office to spend public money giving often lethal doses of crystal meth, cocaine, cannabis, speed and ecstasy to animals to test effects already well documented in human studies.
For more findings, see the BUAV press release here
According to a London clinical toxicologist, the tests were justified, as he argued that the drugs are not luxury items and that they kill people.
Animals Count wants to see a ban on all harmful use of animals in scientific research, toxicity testing and education. In this case the money should have been spent on prevention of drug use and law enforcements instead of testing the illegal drugs on animals who:
- Would never naturally show signs of addiction
- Are bad models of human psychology (see Shapiro (1998) Animal Models of Human Psychology: Critique of Science, Ethics and Policy)
Similar pages:
Budget 2007 ignores
non-animal research
Proposed Bill to end primate experiments in Ireland
Sign the petition for an independent scientific
inquiry into the efficacy of animal experiments