World Day for Animals in Laboratories was on April 24 and last Saturday there was a national march in Oxford to highlight the millions of animals each year who suffer and die behind the walls of laboratories. Oxford was the place of the demonstration because the university conducts more tests on animals in its laboratories than any other UK university.

According to Government statistics, each year inside British laboratories around four million animals are experimented on causing horrific suffering to the animals involved - and every eight seconds, one animal dies. This is largely ignored as the experiments are hidden from public view.

Vivisection does not even help advance medical science: over 90 per cent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials because they do not work or are dangerous. There are now more accurate ways of performing medical research that do not involve animals, including using human cells and tissues and computer modelling.

We should treat all animals with respect and compassion, and we need to end this cruel practice for good. The Green Party would ban all vivisection.

Mark Dawes

Campaigns Officer

Waltham Forest & Redbridge Green Party