Tuesday 21 July 2009

*Massive petition presented to PM

Caroline Lucas submitted a 1.5m strong petition to 10 Downing St on 2nd July, calling on the Government to develop a 'road map' to move towards the end of animal testing.

She was part of an all-party delegation organised by Uncaged, which has collected the signatures on what is understood to be the largest animal welfare petition in British history.

The petition was submitted at a critical point in the historic debate over animal testing - the UK Government is currently asking for the public's views on animal research ahead of discussions with other governments over a new European Union law.

The Uncaged petition cites moral and scientific reasons to work towards eliminating animal experiments. Laboratory experiments on animals often cause severe suffering, and evidence is emerging that shows that animal tests do not reliably predict human reactions - while non-animal methods can offer greater accuracy and safety assurance.

Yet despite this evidence, the number of animal experiments in Britain has actually increased since 2001 to over 3m a year. Dr Lucas is calling for action to reverse that trend and work towards replacing animal experiments with viable non-animal alternatives.

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