Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

Public opinion research released this week shows that UK public attitudes to animal research haven't changed much over the last few years. As was the case in 2008, nine in 10 (87%) accept the idea of animal research to some degree, with three in five (60%) accepting it unconditionally.

There are signs that the public became slightly more neutral or sceptical last year, especially on regulation. This may simply reflect the lower importance that people place on animal research as an issue.

This opinion research is the latest poll in a series that goes back 10 years. Most of the movement towards increased support for animal research occurred between 1999 and 2005. It is interesting to consider possible reasons for this.

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Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

There are some strange animal-related things happening in Europe, but sometimes sense can prevail. This weekend, a Swiss referendum emphatically rejected calls for animals to have legal representation.

Austrian and Italian scientists writing in the science journal Nature a couple of weeks ago called for a public information campaign in mainland Europe about animal research. The scientists had been forced to abandon experiments using anaesthetised pigs in January. Their study of survival after avalanche burial involved monitoring 29 animals in snow at 1900 metres.

At around the same time, questions were also raised by antivivisection groups about the use of anaesthetised pigs to study blast injuries in the UK between 2006 and 2009. The tests 'saved many lives' in Iraq and Afghanistan due to improvements in post-traumatic techniques, defence minister Quentin Davies said in response.

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Posted by Emu under blog's category : Communications & media

Tomorrow the film Extraordinary Measures will be released in UK cinemas. Based on a true story, it is a fictionalised account of the development of a treatment for a type of progressive inherited muscle weakness called Pompe disease.

The film follows parents John and Aileen Crowley. When their two youngest children are diagnosed with Pompe disease, they do everything they can to find a treatment. John co-forms a biotech company to focus on developing a life-saving drug, and along the way he enlists the help of Dr Robert Stonehill. Whilst the film has almost certainly been given the ‘Hollywood treatment' the true story is equally remarkable, and laboratory animals are the stars.

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Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Antivivisection & extremism

In a febrile atmosphere, a 'panel discussion' took place on a Californian campus earlier this week between antivivisectionists and research advocates. The discussion and its participants had been threatened by animal rights extremists. One of the antivivisectionists on the panel, Ray Greek, earlier posted a long polemic about their attempts to scupper the discussion.

While the panellists on both sides seemed convinced that dialogue is key to dealing with extremism, there was little meeting of minds on the central question of animal research.

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