Statement on the Repeal of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act

Following today's publication of the UK government's consultation on the review of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, please find a statement from PETA below:

PETA welcomes the news that the UK government is launching a public consultation to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding animal testing. Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 not only makes it illegal for information about animal experiments to enter the public domain, providing animal experimenters with a cloak of secrecy to hide behind, but also leads to wasteful, poorly conducted studies which delay medical progress and actually endanger human lives. Every day, 11,000 animals are subjected to abuse and suffering in British laboratories that would be illegal if they took place in any other context. They are poisoned, surgically mutilated, starved, "stressed", infected with deadly diseases or electrocuted. At the end of the experiments, all of them die – alone and afraid.

Members of the public have a right to know what is being done to animals in their name and with their taxes. PETA has long campaigned for greater transparency in animal experiments and for project licences to be held up to both scientific and public scrutiny, knowing that more and more people are questioning the morality and efficacy of using animals in experiments. Freedom of access to information is an essential part of the democratic process and the only means by which research can be properly scrutinised in order to ensure the best possible outcome for people and animals.