Animal Aid in parliament to discuss ending animal tests

Many people will be familiar with the LD50 – a lethal dose test which involves giving groups of animals increasing doses of a substance until half of them are dead. With the government’s roadmap to ‘phasing out animal testing’ due later this year, our long-running campaign to ban the LD50, and all animal experiments is at a critical stage.  I’m delighted to say that our parliamentary event, hosted by Carolyn Harris MP,  was so well-attended, it was almost ‘standing room only’.

The LD50 test, devised in 1927 (yes, almost 100 years ago) is not only incredibly cruel, but it has long been criticised for the data which is produced, and cannot be reliably translated to humans. This element was covered during the conversations. In addition we discussed what the LD50 does to the animals being used, the non-animal replacements, the economic benefits of non-animal methods, grants and infrastructure, public opinion and the solutions to the wider issue of animal experiments. There were lots of fascinating facts, creative ideas and a really positive atmosphere in the room. We were delighted to be joined by our celebrity supporters Will Young and Diane Morgan.

Animal Aid is calling for an immediate ban on the LD50 to be included in the government’s roadmap to ‘phasing out animal testing’. The consensus in the room was that a ban on such a cruel and unreliable test is not only necessary, but very long overdue. It was wonderful to speak to so many engaged and interested MPs and to plan our next steps in this campaign – no-one wants to LD50 to be able to celebrate its 100^th Birthday!