Don't Be A Sucker - Boycott The Malaghan Institute Lollipop Day

Anti Vivisectionists are calling on Wellingtonians to boycott a cancer research street appeal this Friday. The New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society says the money raised by the Malaghan Institute Street appeal will be used in useless animal experiments.

NZAVS spokesperson Mark Eden says the Malaghan Institute has been using animals in experiments for decades and hasn't come up with any useful medical advances at all despite the millions of dollars of donations they receive.

"Much of the research at the Malaghan Institute consists of trying to induce cancer tumours and other painful diseases into animals and studying the results. Not only is this incredibly cruel, the differences between humans and other species make the results of the experiments completely useless for finding cures for cancer and other diseases".

"The so called scientists at the Malaghan Institute have found a guaranteed way to make money. They are conning people into making donations to cure cancer, but by relying on animal experiments instead of true science they are in no danger of ever finding a cure and thereby putting themselves out of a job".

"We support real science, disease prevention and clinical research but we, along with thousands of doctors around the world, are saying that animal research is hindering the cause of medicine and should be abolished immediately", said Mr Eden

According to the latest government figures, the number of laboratory animals undergoing "severe or very severe suffering" tripled in 1999. Animal experiments are graded according to a five point suffering scale. Animals used in the two most severe categories increased from 7,642 in 1998 to 26,399 in 1999. Species used in these painful experiments included birds, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats, rabbits and one cow.

Contacts: Mark Eden, Wellington Co-ordinator, NZAVS, (04) 385-6728

NZAVS National Secretary, Phil Clayton, (03) 379-0093

NZAVS websites: http://www.health.org.nz http://www.nzavs.org.nz

-- PO Box 6387, Te Aro, Wellington, Aotearoa (New Zealand) Phone 0064 04 385-6728

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