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Environment

25th Jul 2021

Ricky Gervais lobbies for ban on all animal experiments in UK

Kieran Galpin

Gervais seeks an end to animal testing

Animal testing is surprisingly still prevalent in the UK in 2021.

Upon a deep investigation, it turns out the plot of Legally Blonde 2 was not factual, and Elle Woods (Reece Witherspoon) did not outlaw animal testing. Though Elle is a fictional character, a real-life hero looks to free all critters from animal testing.

https://twitter.com/PeterEgan6/status/1417775104851947521

Ricky Gervais has made it his mission to outlaw animal testing in the UK. Gervais and Peter Egan are campaigning for laboratory animals to be included in the Animal Welfare act.

In Cambridgeshire, animal rights activists sought to close down a puppy breeding factory. Beagles are bred superficially for animal testing, only to be sold at 16 weeks for drug and chemical testing purposes. The Laboratory promises its stock to be “laboratory-ready”, which essentially means they would offer their paws for injections and are calm when having a gas mask strapped to their faces.

MBR Acres is owned by US company Marshall BioResources. They breed 2,000 puppies every year, most of which are sent for toxicology tests at UK laboratories, the Independent reports. This means subjecting the animals to various drugs and pesticides, which they say can be done for up to 90 days with no pain relief or anaesthetic.

Egan is a member of For Life on Earth (Floe), who want the UK Government to instigate a “public scientific hearing” on whether animal experiments can predict responses in human patients.

“I’m deeply shocked to learn that thousands of beautiful beagles are intensively bred, right here in the peace of the British countryside, for painful and terrifying toxicity experiments that are also now proven to entirely fail the search for human treatments and cures,” said Gervais.

However, MBR has rebuked these claims, with a spokeswoman saying:

“It does not undertake regulatory toxicology or other experiments and has only animal care staff working on its sites.

“Expert opinion on why animals are needed in research should be sought from the medicines regulator and scientists or organisations working in this field.

“These experiments form a small but crucial part of a wide range of applications from ecology work to investigations into human and animal diseases including those that led directly to the vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, cancer drugs, pet medicines and products labelled as safe for pets.

“We are proud of the role we play in supporting human and animal health regardless of the misconceptions of campaigners.”