In a newly-published report, Animal Aid has documented examples of painful and gruesome animal experiments that were conducted recently in British laboratories.
Dogs, cats, rats, chickens and ferrets have all been subjected to a range of torments, including damage to their spinal nerves, having their skulls opened, their livers damaged and being drained of blood.
Genetically modified mice have been spun around, burnt and their nerves damaged.
The majority of the three million experiments conducted every year in this country receive no proper advance assessment, but are given approval by one of just 30 woefully under resourced Home Office inspectors.
The result is the kind of ugly and unwarranted cruelty we have highlighted in our new report.
Nor is it any wonder that only 13 serious animal welfare infringements were dealt with in 2004 – with not a single one leading to a prosecution.
A full report is available at www.animalaid.org.uk

Andre Menache,
scientific consultant to Animal Aid.