EDM 1411 'Testing of Recreational Drugs on Animals'
EDM 1411 calls on the Government to stop granting licences for
harmful experiments on animals to investigate the effects of recreational
drugs.
Since 1997 nearly 200 studies have been published into the harmful
effects on animals of recreational drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA),
cannabis, cocaine and speed. The experiments range from the bizarre
and abusive to the needlessly repetitive and even illegal. Animals
were subjected to electric shocks, loud noise, isolation, food
deprivation, repeated abdominal injections, and brain surgery.
The usefulness of these studies in advancing our understanding
of the harmful effects of these drugs is highly questionable because
animals are poor models of the human response to recreational drugs.
What’s more, non-animal methods to discover information of
direct relevance to the human situation are being conducted at
the same time as the animal tests. UK law states that licences
for animal experiments should only be granted when no other alternative
exists.
The law also states that a full analysis of the costs (to the
animals) and potential benefits of the research is conducted before
any licence is granted. But recreational drugs are ‘luxury’ items,
used voluntarily (and illegally) by humans. Any health consequences
of their use are entirely avoidable and there can surely be no
ethical justification for harming animals in these tests.
The EDM also notes that much of this research is at the tax-payer’s
expense, through Government funding of universities and/or Medical
Research Council grants and centres. It notes that this funding
should be reallocated to improving drug rehabilitation facilities
for those individuals struggling with their addictions, providing
information resources to prevent drug abuse, and supporting facilities
for families living with the consequences of drug abuse.
The Government already refuses to issue licences for animal experiments
on other non-essential items such as tobacco, alcohol, weapons
and cosmetics. This ban must now be extended to experiments for
recreational drugs.
We need you to help us get a stop to these pointless and inexcusable
tests.
Click here to lobby your MP on EDM
1411 now!
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