Three stars from the worlds of TV and film have teamed up to recreate an iconic 102-year-old photograph and highlight Britain’s lack of progress towards ending experiments on animals.
Back in 1919, three women from the feminist-led British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection protested in Parliament Square as the Dogs (Protection) Bill was being debated in Parliament.
Now their places are taken by Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch, Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol and Lucy Watson from Made In Chelsea, but the message remains exactly the same.
This week, Home Office statistics revealed that almost 2.9 million procedures were carried out on animals last year with 86,395 classified as ‘severe,’ meaning the animals endured intense and protracted pain, suffering, or distress.
Campaign groups say the number of experiments has fallen by just one per cent a year in the past decade, meaning it would take yet another century for it to be phased out.
While mice topped the list of animals experimented on, the Home Office list included 4,340 procedures on dogs, 10,790 on horses, 11,336 on rabbits and 146 on cats.
All these represented an increase on the previous year and the figures also showed a 77 per cent increase in experiments on monkeys to 2,393.
Lesley Nicol, who played Mrs Patmore in Downton Abbey, said: ‘It’s horrifying to know how many animal experiments take place each year in the UK. To know that so many are unnecessary breaks my heart.
‘In the 1900s people were fighting for animal experiments to stop and fast forward 118 years, here we are again… So why hasn’t a change been made? With modern science evolving, it’s beyond my comprehension that scientists, universities and brands haven’t made more of an effort to replace animal experiments.’
The successor organisation to the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, Cruelty Free International are one of three groups now calling on the Government to adopt a Target Zero campaign.
They have set up a petition they hope will force the issue back onto the agenda https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/590216 .
Their analysis shows that (discounting this year’s unusual drop) the overall number of animal experiments has only fallen by 1% annually over the past 10 years
Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series, said: ‘The UK carries out more animal experiments than most countries in Europe, but this doesn’t have to the be case.
‘We can – and should – be leaders in paving the way for ethical, effective experiments that don’t cruelly exploit animals. I hope that the comparisons drawn between the 1900s and present day demonstrates the urgent need to rethink how we treat animals in science.’
And Made In Chelsea star Lucy Watson added: ‘It’s shocking to think that so many animal experiments are unnecessary, yet they still occur and cause a great deal of distress and harm for helpless animals.
‘Very few people know the extent of the problem, so I really hope that this campaign helps to draw attention to the issue. The more it’s talked about, the more likely things will change.’
The Home Office statistics showed that experiments were carried out on animals as diverse as birds, fish, pigs and rats.
Of the experiments conducted on dogs, 115 were to satisfy plant protection product legislation, likely to include pesticide testing, as well as nine experiments to satisfy industrial chemical legislation.
Carla Owen, Chief Executive Officer of Animal Free Research UK, one of the three groups behind the petition, said: ‘If Britain is to become a science superpower it must lead by example. We have human and human-relevant scientific techniques at our disposal that were recently in the realm of science fiction, that hold the key to reversing decades of failure and turning research into successful human therapies and cures.
‘The UK government must, therefore, act to fully embrace this modern science, accelerate the use of animal free research and aim for target zero animal experiments, starting today.’