It is often argued by pro-vivisectionists that the UK has the strictest laws in the world to protect laboratory animals, but
without a proper analysis of the laws of other countries (which vary greatly) this is an empty claim.
What is indisputable is that the main function of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
(‘the 1986 Act’) (the UK legislation governing animal experiments) is not to protect laboratory animals, but to protect animal researchers by allowing them to subject lab animals to the sort of treatment which would be illegal outside the laboratory.
For this reason, animal experiments are specifically excluded from the Protection of Animals Act 1911, and its Scottish equivalent, the main legislation protecting animals from cruelty.
Under the 1986 Act, it is still perfectly legal for an animal in a laboratory to be unnaturally caged for its entire life; poisoned; deprived of food, water or sleep; applied with skin and eye irritants; subjected to psychological stress; deliberately infected with diseases such as cancer and AIDS; brain damaged; paralysed; surgically mutilated; irradiated; burned; gassed; force fed, electrocuted and killed. What kind of protection is that?
The BUAV often takes legal action in defence of animals and to challenge the application of the law. We are currently in the process of taking the Home Secretary to court over legal issues arising from our undercover investigation at Cambridge University. Hearings are set for later in 2007 and our legal team are working to collate the evidence to support our case rigt now. For more details of this case, contact the BUAV.
