Animal wrongs 3

Home Office Minister Caroline Flint says that animal research "saves countless lives each year". But her claim is unsupported by evidence. Meanwhile, there is abundant evidence of harm to humans from animal experimentation. For example, hormone replacement therapy increases women's risk of heart disease and stroke, even though monkeys predicted the opposite. Aidsvax, based on chimpanzees, failed to protect 8,000 volunteers in clinical trials. Dozens of treatments for strokes worked in animals but killed patients. Some 82 per cent of GPs worry that animal data can mislead medicine.

Kathy Archibald
Director, Europeans for Medical Advancement