In the news
6 Sep 2008
22 January 2007
National Rabbit Week
National Rabbit Week January 22nd – be a bunny buddy and support rabbit-friendly research.
During National Rabbit Week (January 22nd) the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity is asking people to be a “bunny buddy” by supporting research aimed at saving human lives as well as replacing tests on rabbits.
Rabbits are still used in large numbers in UK experiments, a staggering 22,818 in 20051. Traditionally they have been used for eye and skin irritancy tests, where substances are put in their eyes or applied to their skin to test the effects. They are also used in some medical experiments.
The Dr Hadwen Trust, which awards nearly £700,000 each year to non-animal medical research, believes that as well as causing suffering, tests on rabbits can also produce unreliable results. The charity is currently funding an asthma research projects at King’s College London, aimed at helping asthma sufferers as well as replacing the use of rabbits in asthma research with more ethical and reliable non-animal test methods.
Says Wendy Higgins, Communications Director:
“If you love rabbits and you also want to help essential human medical research, supporting the Dr Hadwen Trust is a great way to be a bunny buddy for National Rabbit Week. Our asthma research project will help people by funding quality research, and help rabbits too by replacing their use in the laboratory with totally modern, non-animal research methods.”
5.2 million people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma, with just under 1,400 deaths (1,381) from asthma in the UK in 20042. Real asthma cannot be studied in animals, so instead asthma-like symptoms are induced in rabbits as well as guinea pigs and mice. To replace these cruel experiments and improve the reliability of asthma research, the Dr Hadwen Trust’s project is using the latest imaging and genetic techniques to study samples from the airways of human volunteers with and without asthma.
Bunny buddies can support this and other vital non-animal medical research by contacting the Dr Hadwen Trust on 01462 436 819 to make a donation, become a member or buy some of our “bunny” themed merchandise.
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
1 Summary of the 2005 statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Britain
Figures below have been extracted from the Home Office publication: Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2005 (Published July 2006).
2 Statistics from www.asthma.org.uk
