UK University's Must Stop Cruel Experimentation On Animals

A truly repugnant experiment financially supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has been condemned by national campaign group Animal Aid. The experiment, which was performed at Cambridge University, involved cutting sheep open in late pregnancy, pulling out the limbs of their unborn lambs and inserting tubes and monitors into the babies’ legs and major blood vessels. The ewes and unborn lambs were then made to endure two prolonged episodes of suffocation – essentially by a bag being placed over the mothers’ heads – before they were both killed.

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_experiments/ALL/2996//

The lethal sheep ‘procedure’ is the latest in a long line of grotesque animal experiments to which the BHF has given financial support, some of which have been exposed by Animal Aid in its Victims of Charity report (2011). Previous examples include the surgical mutilation of more than 100 beagle dogs, the destruction of the natural heart function of goats, and giving rabbits heart attacks by tying off a major artery. As well as causing the animal victims a great deal of suffering, the procedures – according to Dr Stallwood – ‘have failed to deliver any advances to human medicine. This lack of progress,’ he notes, ‘is hardly surprising, given the fundamental interspecies differences that prevent the results of animal experiments from being reliably applied to humans.’

Animal Experiments

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/experiments/ALL/

Each year inside British laboratories, nearly 4 million animals are experimented on. Every 8 seconds, one animal dies. Cats, dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, primates and other animals are used to test new products, to study human disease and in the development of new drugs. They are even used in warfare experiments. Animal Aid opposes animal experiments on both moral and scientific grounds. Animals are not laboratory tools. They are sentient creatures capable of experiencing pain, fear, loneliness, frustration and sadness.

Animal Aid Youth > Animal Experiments

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/YOUTH/experiments/ALL/

he sheep experiment is the first in a series of cruel and medically irrelevant procedures to feature on a newly launched Victims of Charity ‘action microsite’. Every few weeks, the site will reveal a shocking, recently published animal experiment funded by a UK medical research charity. The experiments will be described in a succinct, non-technical format, and both the animal suffering and faulty science will be exposed. Site visitors will be able to register their opposition with the charity concerned through email and social media. Over the weeks and months to follow, a public archive of these shameful experiments will develop.

The University Ethics Committee (UEC) is responsible to the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee (RKEC), for the consideration of general ethical issues relating to the teaching and research of the University which involves investigations on human beings.