From the BBC Website - Vivisection

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Animal group's court review win

 

Animal rights campaigners have been given the go-ahead to challenge

the legality of vivisection experiments at Cambridge University.

On Tuesday, High Court judge Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, gave the

British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) the go-ahead to

seek a judicial review.

 

BUAV claims secret documents reveal laws intended to protect lab

animals are not being properly enforced.

 

But the terms of the review are stricter than BUAV had hoped for.

 

In February BUAV claimed that during a 10-month undercover

investigation officials discovered monkeys which had had the tops of

their skulls sawn off.

 

There [is] no evidence to support the allegations made by the BUAV

 

Cambridge University spokesperson

 

They claimed strokes had been induced, and the animals left

unattended for up to 15 hours. Some monkeys were found dead in the

morning and others were in a poor condition, they said.

 

BUAV said its finding contradict the view that animals are protected

under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

 

However, when challenged, ministers denied there was anything

irregular, the BUAV alleges.

 

'Research important'

 

BUAV lawyers argued there had been a failure to keep animal suffering

to a minimum and to immediately put down animals suffering beyond an

agreed level.

 

In a statement, a Cambridge University spokesman said a Home Office

inspection report in 2003 had confirmed there was no evidence to

support the BUAV's allegations on non-human primate research.

 

" In February 2003, we welcomed the Home Office Chief Inspector's

report called 'Aspects of non-human primate research at Cambridge

University' as confirmation that there was no evidence to support the

allegations made by the BUAV, " said the statement.

 

" The report confirmed that the welfare of animals used in research at

Cambridge is of the utmost importance, that good science and good

animal welfare go hand in hand, and that the value and importance of

the science here should be acknowledged.

 

" There are good ethical, scientific, legal and economic reasons for

making sure that animals are looked after to the highest possible

standards and as few used as possible, " he said.