The BUAV has released details of a recent undercover investigation inside a UK animal-testing laboratory. Among the findings was the realization that the lab is poisoning 74,000 mice per year specifically for what grand purpose? Botox testing. During the investigator's time in the lab, these tens of thousands of animals were being used in LD50 toxicity tests -- LD50 refers to the dose of toxic substance required to kill 50% of those animals tested.
After the researchers injected the mice with the botulinum toxin, the tiny animals "became increasingly paralysed, eventually gasping for breath and suffocating to death. The degree of suffering is appalling. No pain relief was provided for the mice."
Researchers killed the mice who survived the experiment's poisoning by subjecting them to carbon dioxide poisoning or by breaking their necks. The investigator reports that for the latter, new staff members were trained to break the necks of mice with a ballpoint pen, but during this training, they "sometimes broke the backs of mice rather than their necks," a terribly painful experience for the mice that even more seasoned researchers apparently inflicted on some of the mice as well.
And all this suffering and killing -- of 74,000 animals -- took place when, as is so often the case, there are alternatives. The BUAV has tips for taking action in this case, particularly if you're based in the UK. See also the American Anti-Vivisection Society, the National Anti-Vivisection Society, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for other ongoing U.S. campaigns against animal experimentation to which you can add your voice and signature.
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Photo by Aaron Logan retrieved from Wikimedia Commons
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