Animals will not cure

Tipi Aziz is misleading patients that animal experiments will provide cures ("Back animal lab, top surgeon demands", June 25). The cardiovascular, respiratory and blood pressure systems of animals are different from ours, and years of research on animals has not provided answers.

Unfortunately, medical research today is motivated by profit and production of drugs that may alleviate or suppress symptoms but do not cure, ensuring constant demand for new or improved drugs. Several studies have linked neuro-degenerative diseases with chemicals - all safety-tested on animals. If resources had been diverted into discovering and eliminating the causes of the rise in neuro-degenerative diseases, we could have solutions to many of them.

I do not condone the violence of extremists, but I understand their frustrations after the government's failure to hold the long-promised judicial inquiry into animal experiments.

Marlene Thomson
Nottinghamshire