Organisations opposed to animal experiments take the opposite view. They say that not only do alternatives to animals exist, but they are better. They also claim that relying on the results of animal research is dangerous. “Reliance on animal experimentation amounts to gambling with our children’s’ health,” says the antivivisection group Europeans for Medical Progress (EMP). “Time and time again, misleading results from animal experimentation have proved tragic or fatal when applied to children and babies. And there are much better options.”The thought that animal experiments directly harm people, that they are next to useless for medical progress and that their only outcome is unnecessary suffering is surprising, if not alarming. But what evidence is there to back up such claims?
This was the question posed last year by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) when it was investigating a complaint against EMP (then called Europeans for Medical Advancement). For instance, the ASA was interested in the evidence to support this claim by the group: “Treatment of childhood leukaemia has also improved dramatically, thanks entirely to ingenious research on cell and tissue cultures – not to animal experiments.”
Or this statement: “The biggest obstacle in the search for cures for cancer and many other diseases of childhood is our irrational dependence on animal experimentation, which has cost far too many thousands of lives.” EMP also claimed the leukaemia drug Glivec had been discovered entirely through test-tube research not involving animals.
When the ASA challenged the group to support these claims, EMP cited research dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. Understandably, the ASA ruled that people reading the group’s literature are hardly likely to consider 50 or 60-year-old research as recent improvements. The ASA also found that Glivec, a recent treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia, was developed with the help of animal research.
…more at [news.independent.co.uk]
I wonder if they’d take on evangelists?
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