Progress! Labour Party Commits to Phasing Out Animal Testing
Update (5 July 2024):
The Labour Party has won the general election after committing to phasing out animal testing. PETA is calling on the party to fulfil its promise to animals and compassionate voters by implementing the steps outlined in PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal immediately. Sign our petition urging the government to mandate an end to all experiments on animals.
Original blog (14 June 2024):
The Labour Party manifesto pledges to phase out testing on animals and “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society” to reach this goal.
PETA welcomes this commitment and calls on all other parties to take a similar stand for animals.
Thank you to the 21,000 PETA supporters who urged their MPs to back a pledge to end experiments on animals in their party manifesto.
PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal
If elected, the Labour Party must develop a roadmap to ending the use of animal testing – and PETA scientists have already devised a comprehensive plan that policymakers can follow. Our groundbreaking Research Modernisation Deal (RMD) provides a clear six-point strategy, including increasing funds for the development of non-animal methods of testing, to assist the government in phasing out all experiments on animals.
PETA has spent years lobbying for the government to use the RMD to develop a roadmap for phasing out animal use in experiments. We’ve also urged MPs to support bans on animal testing, attended parliamentary debates, briefed MPs, met with policymakers, exhibited at political conferences, and more. And earlier this year, PETA, alongside other leading animal protection groups, sent a joint letter to political party leaders calling on them to develop a nationwide plan for adopting superior, animal-free technology as part of their manifesto commitments.
A Life of Imprisonment and Torture
Experimenters subject living, feeling beings to unbearable suffering. In the UK, dogs are force-fed pesticides, rabbits are burned with chemicals, and horses’ blood is drained with needles. Countless other animals are poisoned, deliberately infected, paralysed, or electrocuted.
Earlier this year, PETA documented that right here in the UK, experimenters injected drugs into rabbits’ eyes. Their tears were collected for analysis before they were killed and dissected.
Experimenting on Animals Is Bad Science
Given the vast physiological differences between humans and other animals, the results of such experiments are inherently unreliable. Major scientific breakthroughs in diseases like diabetes and breast cancer have been achieved through studies conducted on consenting human patients, not on other species.
PETA scientists have researched the utter failure of the animal experimentation paradigm to help humans suffering from disease. It has been estimated that a “novel drug can take 10 to 15 years and more than [£1.5 billion] to develop, and failure rates occur in about 95 percent of human studies”.
Tormenting animals does nothing to advance knowledge – and it can even delay treatments and cures for humans.
General Election: You Can Make a Difference for Animals
The Labour Party has also pledged to close fox hunting loopholes and ban imports of hunting trophies. This is wonderful news, but we must ensure that all political parties make the same commitments – and many more.
PETA is calling on UK election candidates to make pledges on 10 key issues to help ensure a kinder future for animals. Help us by urging your local candidates to support these pledges:
