PROFESSOR COLIN BLAKEMORE DEFENDS ANIMAL TESTING

[Guest guest]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/29/nanim229.xml

People are fed up with protesters' thuggery

By Prof Colin Blakemore

(Filed: 29/05/2006)

 

Sonny, an animal rights activist, opposes the building of a new laboratory

at the local university. His sister, a research student, will be working

there. Their father died from cancer. After an emergency hospital admission,

Sonny decides to use an inhaler to manage his asthma, even though he knows

that its development involved the use of animals. He argues that it is OK

because it helps him to continue his fight against animal research.

 

This is the tangled plot of Every Breath, a morality play by Judith Johnson,

aimed at schoolchildren of 14-plus, which I saw a few days ago at the

Wellcome Trust. The actors of the Y-Touring Theatre company described how

they stay in character for a debate after each school performance. I was

astounded to hear them say that sometimes no pupils will take the animal

rights side in these debates.

 

I first gave talks in schools in 1987, as part of my response to a campaign

of criticism, harassment, and eventually bombs, bricks and paint-stripper,

directed against me and my family. I walked down school corridors completely

wall-papered with ghastly animal rights posters. I remember the overwhelming

hostility of the audiences - teachers as well as pupils.

 

What a change in 20 years. Today's YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll is the latest

evidence of a radical shift of national opinion. In a poll for New Scientist

in 1999, only 23 per cent agreed in response to the question " Do you agree

or disagree that scientists should be allowed to conduct any experiments on

live animals? " But polls for the Coalition for Medical Progress in 2002 and

2005 found that about three quarters of the public agreed, and 90 per cent

accepted, as long as suffering is minimised and there are no alternatives

(exactly as required by law).

 

Correlated with this growing acceptance is increasing trust in the

regulations. In 1999, 65 per cent said they did not trust the regulatory

system; in 2002, 50 per cent; in 2005, 36 per cent. What is remarkable about

today's poll is that the questions are about the routine safety-testing of

drugs on animals, before they are first tried out on people - the kind of

testing done by Huntingdon Life Sciences, which has been a target of

activists for years. Roughly three quarters of the public accept such

testing, and they realise that there are no alternatives. They have not been

fooled by the assertions that testing is unnecessary or positively dangerous

for humans.

 

The fact is that more than 60 per cent of potential drugs fail at the animal

testing stage, and without these safeguards the terrible events of the

recent clinical trial at Northwick Park Hospital could be a weekly event.

The poll reveals a balanced attitude to freedom of expression. Holding

placards at peaceful demonstrations is acceptable. Death threats, vandalism,

posting names on the internet, even shouting abuse, are not.

 

The fiercest disapproval - virtually unanimous - is for the desecration of

graves. The disinterment of Gladys Hammond, a relative of the Hall family,

who ran the besieged guinea pig breeding farm in Staffordshire, was a

turning point in the animal rights debate - a signal of the depths to which

a handful of thugs are prepared to stoop to force their views on society. I

have hesitated in the past to use the word " terrorists " to describe such

people but today's poll shows that only 15 per cent of the public think that

it is unfair to use that word.

 

For too long the extremists have dictated the agenda. But the Government,

charities, universities, drug companies and research funders are now far

more open in their support for animal use and their engagement in debate.

More and more researchers are opening their doors to the press and public.

 

The new legislation is starting to bite. The police and the courts are

finding and convicting extremists, and today's poll shows public support for

exemplary prison sentences. People are fed up with thuggery and are prepared

to say so. Almost 20,000, including Tony Blair, have signed the People's

Petition in support of medical research using animals.

 

The Pro-Test movement, inspired by 16-year-old Laurie Pycroft, which

campaigns for the new Oxford medical research lab, symbolises the views of

ordinary people, who recognise that medical researchers deserve gratitude,

not denigration.

 

The courage of the public must be matched by a greater openness by

researchers, who must continue to explain what they do and the benefits that

result. And we must work to replace animals wherever possible. Terrorist

movements cannot survive without a foundation of public sympathy. Today's

poll tells us that there is no such foundation.

 

• Prof Colin Blakemore is the chief executive of the Medical Research

Council.