Cockamamie policies

A new report has revealed that universities are responsible for just over half of all experiments conducted on animals in the UK.

Yet drilling holes into the skulls of dogs, deliberately infecting mice with human diseases, electrocuting rats and implanting electrodes into the brains of primates are not only unethical but also poor science and not required by law.

According to former US National Cancer Institute Director Dr Richard Klausner: “We have cured mice of cancer for decades – and it simply didn’t work in humans.”

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It’s time that our institutions of higher learning aligned themselves with public opinion, social progress and 21st-century scientific pursuits.

The development of cutting-edge non-animal biotechnology such as organs-on-a-chip and computer modelling that predict what will happen in humans with greater accuracy than crude animal experiments is exciting and progressive.

Unless they wish to be at the bottom of the science pile, our universities should rethink their archaic and cockamamie policy regarding animal use.

They must embrace modern, humane research technology and move away from the use of animals in traumatic and deadly experiments for the benefit of their students, researchers and lecturers.

Calum Proctor

by email