Ill use of animals

I am sure many people were as shocked as I was to read: “11,000 animals tested on every day in UK” (your report, 17 July).

When we read that UK government ministers argue that the rise is largely the result of an increase in “breeding genetically modified animals for research” and that removing that category (genetically modified animals) from the statistics would show a fall in the overall number of experiments of “2 per cent to 2.13 million”, we are surely living in a land where Dracula has taken over the running of Animal Farm.

To take just one other example of the new figures – which reveal that more than 700 ­monkeys were used in 3,000 ­experiments equating to a 22 per cent rise in tests on non-­human primates – we have got to say: “No! No! No!”

This must be against the ­letter and spirit of the European ­directive (2010/63/EU revising directive 86/609/EEC) on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

The directive is firmly based on the principle of the “Three Rs”: to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals used for scientific purposes, and I and many of my colleagues will be poring over this report and comparing it with the directive and asking the European Commission to take action.

David Martin MEP

Midlothian Innovation Centre

Roslin, Midlothian