"TONY Blair is to sign a petition backing animal testing. " do you think animal testing should be aloud?
613804
No, it should be disallowed
365258
Yes. You may or may not have heard about a drugs trial in the UK recently in which 6 people where given a new drug, and had very severe reactions to it, and two of them nearly died. Many people have put this forward as a reason to abandon animal testing since the drug was tested on animals first and showed no sign of the reaction. However i must say that the drug trial worked perfectly, despite the unfortunate outcome. There are many drugs that don't make it to phase one human trials because of bad reactions in animals. Mice have a similar immune system to ours, and so make them a good model animal to test.\n\nIn studies, animals are very useful. Many genes and proteins are very highly conserved amoungst humans and animals. To effectively study what these genes do, in a bid to find new ways to treat illnesses, it is necessary to mutate the gene in the animals. So unless any humans wish to volunteer, it is nescesary to use aniumals. Oh and I do wish animal rights protestors who attack medical research institutes would volunteer.
817848
Well spotted sofiarose - that one passed me by too - and I like to think I keep an 'eagle-eye' on what they do (by getting daily e-mail updates from http://www.epolitix.com/ which includes the name of legislation to be debated, but not a description of the content).\n\nExcellent article although somewhat out of date (February) and misleading - thank you.\n\nAs of 8 November 2006 the beast became an Act of law.  It's already on the statute books as the "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006" (2006 Ch. 51).\n\nI've had a quick look at it, and it's no-where near as bad as this LibDem MP makes out - he was scaremongering, unless it has been watered down from its original form.\n\nTake a look at it yourselves......
1031039
I don't know. I like to consider myself culturally sensitive but when the safety and well being of innocent animals is at stake I will always advocate for the animals. A local news report on the conditions would probably do wonders for rectifying the problem.
838161
Yes we are vegetarians we totally agree with you!!!!!!!!!\nAt least we know some people care about animals!!!!!!!!  Not  Only for the animals sake but people are so unaware of all of these chemicals and steroids that they are putting into these animals to make them bigger quicker to get money now. We have no idea what all of these chemicals,etc...are going to do to our children as they grow in the future.  By  the way please don't turn  a blind  eye to how animals are being tortured for their body parts while they are still alive.  God did not put these creatures here for us to mistreat just because we are more intelligent.  Maybe we should start taking I.Q. Tests and just clean out  the world of the less intelligent ones.
333671
i think is wrong because God create animals not for us to use it for animal testing.
926979
In an ideal world, no, not at all. Sadly, a lot of the time animals are not given the respect they deserve by Man.\n\nHowever, for some medical research, animal testing is necessary. We simply cannot test new drugs etc on people 'straight out of the box' - a lot of people would die, which I don't think anyone would accept. Trust me, a lot of scientists wish animal testing wasn't needed! This is why a lot of research is going into the devlopment of alternatives. Some branches of bioinformatics for example, aim to create accurate computer models for 'human testing', so that a lot of side-effects can be accurately predicted before human trials begin, so avoided the need for animal testing. This technology is still only in the development stage though.\n\nHowever, it is worth noting that not all labs treat animals in such cruel ways. Different countries have different rules. In many labs now, the animals used are extremely well cared for. Sadly, this is not the case everywhere.\n\nWhile I do not like it, I do see the benifits. Until a suitable, permanent alternative can be found, I think it is important to campaign for better treatment of animals used in this way.\n\nI will never support animal testing for anything but medical uses. There is simply no excuse for testing cosmetics on animlas!!
1046560
No.\n\nCarry a hedgehog as well. That ought to do it.
288897
The biggest animal rights group in the world right now is probably People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. You might want to check out their site and the sites of their critics. Try http://www.petakillsanimals.com for some startling facts about PETA. Also, any good book on animal rights/welfare in your school's library will address the criticisms of the animal rights movement.\n\nA handy tip: remember that animal right and animal welfare are not the same thing. When you think animal rights, think PETA. When you think animal welfare, think SPCA.\n\nGood luck with your term paper!
936052
Animals are afforded some rights in our society, coinciding with their lower intellect.  That is, they do not have the right to vote, but are entitled to a clean healthy life if owned by someone.  If they are to be put to death - it must be according to nature (ex: feeding live rats to a pet snake).  People however do not have the right to experiment on animals in their own home - doing so is considered cruelty - something which the ASPCA takes very seriously!  I would highly encourage you to turn in your "friends" before they conduct further "experiments".  Or at the very least contact a local university that does some animal experimentation - and educate your friends on the standards professionals have to adhere too!   \n\nResearchers who conduct animal experiments within a laboratory environment have a license to do so, have to follow very strict protocols in caring for the animals before, during and after experimentation (everything from feeding time, amount of food, temperature, etc is documented several times per day), have to account for every step of the experiment, and answer to an oversight board.  If it is believed the animal would feel any pain whatsoever, or experienced effects detrimental to it's health during the experiment - the rules state the animal(s) must be euthanized in a humane way immediately after the experiment has concluded.  Before any such experiments begin, a true scientist also needs to justify why it is necessary to use animals, what research has already been done, and why non-animal alternatives won't suffice.  They must also lay out the entire experiment design including the expected results.  If the potential experiment is not justified - the oversight board WILL nix it before it begins.
890275
Honestly I thought that was already implied, but an amendment making it official would be a good step. However, the very people who would be affected by it or the ones who need to pass it as legislation, to that I say-----fat chance.
908985
I agree. I believe that animals are equal to people and they should be treated as such. I'm not a vegitarian or anything, but I still think other creatures deserve their rights. After all, humans are animals too. In fact, I don't consider the animals in my family as pets, I think of them as my brothers/sisters. It is unfair to animals and pets, but humans tend to think they're the dominant species.
462941
if there is a petition..i'll sign it. good idea!
770026
Animals have loads of rights in the UK, you really don't realise how other countries in Europe don't give a damn about animals. Take France for example, over there it's the hunters go on marchs, do petitions, being militants for more hunting rights!\nSo you see how well off animals are these days in the UK?
835430
I don't have an answer for you.  Obviously the people drafting the laws didn't have all of the facts.  Why not call up the trucking lobby and complain?\n\nAdditional: to another answerer I don't think this gentlemen was disputing global warming.  He was merely stating a fact based on his experience.  As far as the animal comment - doesn't surprise me.  A lot of people treat their dogs better than their wives and kids.  \n\nI wish I had answers.  Interesting points though.  I still say write your Congressman or lobby (union, etc).
1129392
Omer - normally I would probably disagree with you when you ask a question relating to England as I know you simply do not like us, and I guess that is your free choice (blinkered that it is, and a shame  as the vast majoirty of us are very decent people).  However, on this ocassion, I agree with you that the English hooligans are not better than animals - but please remember that it is not just English people that are involved in this, and that England have been trying very hard to clean up our act in this area.  What to do with them - well with today's techonlogy it would not be too hard to impose a life travel ban on the idiots that cause trouble. As for Germany they should impose prison sentances on them, but doubt they want to waste their taxpayers money on these idiots.
526845
Well if we don't test on animals then we won't find out that our new drugs are harmful until humans start dying.\n\nThe death of a thousand non-sentient animals is worth it if one human life is saved.  Now consider that without animal testing thousands of humans would be dying that otherwise would live and it seems pretty clear that the terrorists at SHAC, et. al. need to be opposed.