Parkinson’s UK plans cruel experiments on monkeys

Parkinson’s UK, through ‘Virtual Biotech’, their drug development arm, will provide funding of more than £780,000 for work which will include testing a drug named NLX-112 on primates. The work will be in partnership with a drug company – Neurolixis – and with King’s College London, which has a colony of marmoset monkeys. Parkinson’s UK stated on their website that the work would include ‘safety and efficacy testing in a marmoset model of Parkinson’s’. Although there are no details of exactly what the monkeys... Continued

Multiple Sclerosis Society UK support for disturbing experiments on live mice

Animal Aid has uncovered extremely disturbing experiments involving live mice being surgically joined together, and forced to remain like this for several weeks. The research paper reporting these terrible experiments explains how the research was ‘supported in part by grants’ from various organisations, including the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society1. A separate research paper involved a toxin being injected into the brains of mice in order to damage them. The mice were later killed and their brains analysed. Two researchers listed... Continued

Cancer Research UK support for horrific experiment in ‘nude’ mice.

Introduction Researchers who thanked Cancer Research UK (CRUK) for their ‘generous financial support’ conducted cruel and outdated experiments on a number of nude mice, in order to give them bone cancer.(1) The animals, some 6 weeks old and others 16 weeks old, had cancer cells injected into their hearts. The male mice received prostate cancer cells and the female mice received breast cancer cells. These cells were made to glow so that tumour growth could be identified while the animals were alive. (This was also confirmed after... Continued

Experiments on baby mice at Arthritis Research UK-funded research centre

Introduction A research centre, founded with money from Arthritis Research UK(1), provided a grant to support gruesome and protracted experiments, which were conducted on a number of ten-week-old, male mice. The experiments involved operating on the mice to intentionally damage one knee of each animal. Animals previously mutilated in this way had been killed over a period of time (between two to eight weeks after the operation) and the injured joint sliced, labelled with a substance called 1-11E, or a control substance, and... Continued

GM mice suffer in crude experiments supported by the Alzheimer’s Society

Introduction The Alzheimer's Society has co-funded a series of profoundly disturbing experiments on genetically modified (GM) mice, which were conducted at the University of Ulster.[1][2]The mice, who were genetically altered to develop a crude approximation of Alzheimer’s disease, were injected daily with a drug currently used to treat diabetes in humans, then subjected to a regime of highly stressful behavioural tests which involved being forced to swim around in a pool of water looking for an escape route. The research was... Continued

CRUK funds cruel and hopelessly outdated experiments on rodents

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has co-funded a complex study that involved a whole series of cruel and archaic experiments on rats and mice.[1] Conducted at Edinburgh University, the research was designed to investigate whether disrupting a particular network of proteins could help treat bile duct cancer. [2] Three different types of animals were used: 1. So-called ‘nude’ mice – furless animals who are genetically modified to have a deficient immune system. This makes them less likely to reject human cancer cells that are... Continued

Rats deprived of oxygen in cruel and pointless BHF-funded research

An experiment co-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF)[1] and conducted at Cambridge University involved rats being confined in ‘hypoxia chambers’ for two weeks, where they were forced to breathe air that had a low concentration of oxygen.[2] The research was investigating whether eating vegetables rich in nitrates, (such as kale and spinach) could prevent some heart patients from developing a condition in which their organs do not receive enough oxygen. Eating green vegetables is already recommended as part of a... Continued

Ice bucket charity supports nightmarish suffering for GM mice

The ‘ice bucket challenge’ craze that dominated social media for several weeks this summer raised £7 million for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA).[1] Many people who contributed to this impressive total were probably unaware that this British charity funds experiments on animals. At present, this includes providing more than £1 million for tests on mice, many of whom are genetically modified (GM).[2] Some of these genetic alterations can cause the highest level of suffering that it is legal to inflict on animals in... Continued

BHF supports repulsive experiments on rats and mice

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has helped fund a series of repulsive animal experiments that involved mice being deliberately given heart attacks, rats having their brains damaged and both species being killed by having their necks broken. The first in a gruesome series of ‘procedures’ involved anaesthetised mice having their chests opened up and being given heart attacks by having the flow of blood to their hearts blocked for between five and 30 minutes. In another experiment, rats deliberately bred to suffer strokes were... Continued

BHF’s attempt to distance itself from cruel animal experiments

Since we launched the latest phase of our Victims of Charity campaign, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has sought to distance itself from some of the cruel animal experiments that we have uncovered. Yet the charity’s evasiveness has made us all the more determined to expose its clear financial support for research that involves horrific animal suffering. The denial began towards the end of 2013, when we uncovered a shocking experiment in which pregnant sheep had been surgically mutilated and their unborn lambs brain-damaged... Continued