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Race For Life

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It's that time of year again and I have already been asked a few times for sponser money from women doing the Race for Life run for Cancer Research UK.

 

My intention is not to cause hurt here, but just to remind us animal lovers on the forum that Cancer Research UK do terrible tests on animals. I cannot support any company/body that sees animals as less worthy with unequal rights to us humans, making it justifiable to test on animals.

 

So, I thought I would post up a link of all the companies that don't test on animals, and maybe if you are considering doing the run, then it might be worthwhile thinking about making a donation to these other, more ethical companies instead?

 

 

http://www.mapsoc.org.uk/downloads/charities%20that%20dont%20test.pdf

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I lost one of my very best friends to cancer at 49 years old a couple of weeks ago and I'm afraid I will be donating to anyone who asks me to sponsor them as we also lost my BIL to cancer 10 years ago and will support any charity which tries to save families and friends from the heartache of losing someone they were close to.

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It is a very tricky subject isn't it Kate, and you have to do what feels right for you and your circumstances. My intention is not to preach, but just to let people know. Then they can make their own decision based on their own opinion.

 

I've lost many people close to me from Cancer, and I am about to loose a very close friend of mine that has been diagnosed with terminal cancer over christmas. She's 41.

 

I do understand both sides.

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Sorry Gina...I fully respect your point of view, and like Lesley, never use any cosmetics etc which have been tested on animals, but can't agree about cancer testing.

 

I have lost 2 friends to cancer, have a friend who has breast cancer and my son's best friend is terminally ill with bone cancer, aged 22....so I'm giving all the support I can to cancer charities.

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I also fully respect people's choices and opinions but having lost one of my best friend's at 38 and more recently my dad I also donate to cancer charities. Animal testing is a very tricky subject - if one of my children needed a cancer drug, or any other drug for that matter, and it was going to save or prolong their life/quality of life then I'd be very grateful it had been tested on animals and found to be effective and safe (sorry if that offends).

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Ten days ago my mum found out that she has cancer in her knee :( She has fought cancer twice before and we thought she had beaten it. She is no spring chicken and has other ongoing medical problems which is going to her make her treatment tricky.

 

I do donate to cancer charities that test on animals. I need my mum.

 

I also respect other peoples opinions on this subject.

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Ali, I'm so sorry to hear about your Mum. Hoping she continues to fight hard. Thinking of you.

 

Animal testing is a very tricky subject - if one of my children needed a cancer drug, or any other drug for that matter, and it was going to save or prolong their life/quality of life then I'd be very grateful it had been tested on animals and found to be effective and safe (sorry if that offends).

 

I agree with that, Fee. We all have to take medication at some point in our lives, whether it's painkillers for a headache, cough medicine for a tickly cough, chemotherapy if we develop cancer or pethidine when giving birth. All these drugs will have been tested on animals. Where do we draw the line?

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thanks for the info Gina

 

There are a lot of good charities that dont test on animals...so why cant they all not?

 

In an ideal world, perhaps they wouldn't :?

 

I think it is a legal requirement that medicines are tested on animals - Louise will be along soon and correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I sit on the fence because I wish that there was no need for animal testing but I know that if it came down to me, or any of my family, needing drugs that have been tested...........then I would use them :? ...... and as Kate says, we probably all use painkillers/cough medicines etc. I fought against taking Statins to lower my cholesterol for a long time, but at the end of the day there were no alternatives and I owe it to my family to do the best I can.

 

Having said that, I do make donations to the Hadwen Trust which has long been trying to find alternatives to animal testing. Perhaps by making donations to those charities who do not use animal testing we could further the cause?

 

There is a vast difference between medicines being tested on animals and cosmetics and cleaning products being tested..........and eliminating the cosmetics and cleaning products that have been tested on animals from our shopping would make a difference.... and it is a start......

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In an ideal world animal testing would not happen and that would be a good thing but I will tell you a few facts :?

 

No company tests anything on animals because they want to the reason for that is it is so ruddy expensive :shock: Alternatives are so cheap in comparison :?

 

It is a legal requirement for anything that is described as a therapeutic medicine for animals or humans to go through a standard battery of tests before it can be deemed safe :roll:

 

This also includes things people don't think of as medicines like contraceptives, pain killers, cough syrups etc :?

 

The law governing the use of animals in research is the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (the only worthwhile thing a certain politician (David Mellor) ever did in his career was to draft this act :lol: ) it is the most robust piece of animal legislation in the world :shock: There was a house of lords commission on it about 6 years ago and they said it was too strict and buraucratic but it is still standing in its entirety :shock:

 

Anyone who wants to work under this legislation can only do so when three licences are in place and are subject to frequent unannounced inspections by the home office whos inspectors are either medics or vets :?

 

All licence applications have to go through local ethical evaluation by an in house group which includes people who look after the animals, the local vet and at least one lay person as well as the scientists before the home office will even look at it :shock:

 

Do you honestly think any company would go through all of this if they didn't HAVE to :shock:

 

The animals are well looked after and dealt with at all times with respect and compassion no matter what the person on the corner with the placard is telling you maybe before 1986 things were different I can't say but now most of the things people get upset about can't happen in the UK :?

 

Abroad is different :evil: Europe are all supposed to be the same but they aren't some countries are better than others but none are as strict as the UK :roll: America is very different :shock: Their animal legislation describes animals as any living creature apart from a mouse, rat or bird :shock: Yes it really does say that - look it up :lol:

 

I respect everyones position on this but I am a great believer in human life first - sorry :oops:

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This is such a difficult and emotive topic and one i still feel very uncomfortable about :?:(

 

 

The animals are well looked after and dealt with at all times with respect and compassion no matter what the person on the corner with the placard is telling you

 

Louise (or anyone else) i wonder whether if you could answer a few questions of mine on the above as you seem really knowledgable about all this :?

 

I once watched a 'Monkey Business' programme where they rescued some monkeys as they had come to the end of a period of testing and needed re-homing. The monkeys were very over weight and according to the couple who own Monkey World who rehomed them they said they werent fed properly and didnt have anything to stimulate them in the testing lab.

 

Is this what happens? :?:(

 

Also do labs in GB still test on dogs, cats and rabbits? :?

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I'll be off doing it again this year too - havn't signed up yet as I'm undecided which one to do :? There is a nice evening one which is less hot but not sure if I'll have someone coming with me.

 

I'm going to do a bit of running this year too! I'm going to beat my record of 1 hour and 2 mins (not exactly hard to beat eh??) Last time I did it Mum didn't want me to in case I had a heart attack - she's a bit less worried now!

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I sit on the fence because I wish that there was no need for animal testing but I know that if it came down to me, or any of my family, needing drugs that have been tested...........then I would use them :? ...... and as Kate says, we probably all use painkillers/cough medicines etc. I fought against taking Statins to lower my cholesterol for a long time, but at the end of the day there were no alternatives and I owe it to my family to do the best I can.

 

Having said that, I do make donations to the Hadwen Trust which has long been trying to find alternatives to animal testing. Perhaps by making donations to those charities who do not use animal testing we could further the cause?

 

There is a vast difference between medicines being tested on animals and cosmetics and cleaning products being tested..........and eliminating the cosmetics and cleaning products that have been tested on animals from our shopping would make a difference.... and it is a start......

 

I think you've said everything here that I would have Lesley. You have understood me. Thank you.

 

I certainly do not want people apologising to me for their opinions, views or actions (Egluntine!) Gosh, no. All of our opinions are equally as valid.

 

If one of my children needed Cancer treatment (or other), then I would use whatever drug was deemed best treatment - tested on animals or not. I have little choice at present. BUT, to be able to further the cause and bring it to the attention of those who maybe didn't realise how widely animals are used for testing then maybe we could start making a difference? If we all donated a little to these charities, then who knows? Nothing radical, like walking about town in a sandwich board!!

 

Small steps. I do believe in them.

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I lost one of my very best friends to cancer at 49 years old a couple of weeks ago and I'm afraid I will be donating to anyone who asks me to sponsor them as we also lost my BIL to cancer 10 years ago and will support any charity which tries to save families and friends from the heartache of losing someone they were close to.

 

Thank you to Kate (and our other forum friends) - who always sponsor Rosie and I to race for life. I lost 3 of my 4 grandparents to cancer, have had a scare myself, and lost a very dear friend to it the first year that I raced in her name. Pip was my age and had endured a 10 year fight against what started as breast cancer - she never lost hope, nor her spirit and was one of those rare people who never thought of herself nor ever stopped giving - a real angel if you ask me. She would have raced if she could.

 

I started off running and did the 5km in 27 mins, then Rosie was the youngest entrant in our race at the age of just 6, and we walked together. Now we run (albeit slowly) together. Anyone who has ever attended one of the races will attest to the fantastic atmosphere at the events. Our race has a wonderful woman, who struggles to complete the race each year - she has muscular dystrophy and walks with the aid of her carers, taking 2.5 hours to complete the race and crosses the line to a standing ovation... now, that is REAL courage and an inspiration in my books. She brings tears to everyone's eyes with her sacrifice.

 

Between us, over the years, Rosie and I have raised over £5,000 for cancer research UK, and we're proud of it.

 

Now, where's that sponsor form....? :?

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This is such a difficult and emotive topic and one i still feel very uncomfortable about :?:(

 

 

The animals are well looked after and dealt with at all times with respect and compassion no matter what the person on the corner with the placard is telling you

 

Louise (or anyone else) i wonder whether if you could answer a few questions of mine on the above as you seem really knowledgable about all this :?

 

I once watched a 'Monkey Business' programme where they rescued some monkeys as they had come to the end of a period of testing and needed re-homing. The monkeys were very over weight and according to the couple who own Monkey World who rehomed them they said they werent fed properly and didnt have anything to stimulate them in the testing lab.

 

Is this what happens? :?:(

 

Also do labs in GB still test on dogs, cats and rabbits? :?

 

Hi Emma, Lots of questions but where to start :?

 

First Monkey world are not the caring face they appear to be they will only take Monkeys from research establishments that give them enormous donations so most can't send their animals there afterwards :? Guess what happens then :cry:

 

They will have lived in cages that conform to the details outlined in a code of practice and by law will have to be given toys and things to enrich their environment and quite often they can be trained to participate in minor tests like blood sampling and behaviour stuff by giving rewards etc :?

 

Their feed will be nutritionally complete along the lines of pet food but made for lab animals which will be supplemented with fruit and veg if whatever they are used for allows :?

 

However some species used in research (stump tailed macaques are the classic) are incredibly lazy and prone to being overweight even in the wild :shock: Even if given incredibly complex and enriched environments they will simply not use it :lol:

 

Anybody that wants to use non human primates or companion animals in anything other than very minor procedures have a further hurdle to clear as the work is looked at by the animal procedures committee which has representatives from animal rights organisations sitting on it as well :shock:http://www.apc.gov.uk/aboutapc/about_index.htm

 

Companion animals are dogs, cats and horses :?

 

The letter of the law for drugs is that they have to be tested on one rodent and one non rodent species before human tests can start so it is usually rats and either dogs or primates :cry:

 

This is because of thalidomide it was originally only tested in rabbits and the Iatrogenic effect does not occur in rabbits but does occur in all other species :cry:

 

Yes rabbits do get used and there is no further regulation for tham even though they are a very popular pet nowadays :?

 

I am not a speciesist and consider a mouse life as important as a dogs most procedures are done on mice, rats and fish I think :?

 

http://scienceandresearch.homeoffice.gov.uk/animal-research/animal-testing-faqs/

 

It is possible in certain conditions to rehome animals and establishments do this wherever they can especially when dogs and cats are used :wink:

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Wow Louise....that is really informative. Thanks.

 

The monkeys previously referred to were stump tailed macaques as I recall.

 

I used to quite like watching Monkey Business...whilst never quite believing that all was as altruistic as it seemed.

 

The constant jet setting and Toyota Landcruiser didn't pay for themselves. :?

 

Fascinating.

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