British medical researchers have welcomed a ruling today (December 7) by the UK advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which has upheld complaints against an organization that released written material arguing that animal experiments can be inaccurate or fatal when applied to human diseases. As a result of the ruling, the organization, called Europeans for Medical Progress (EMP), is under pressure to amend certain claims it made in leaflets.
The decision, based on five complaints from the UK Research Defence Society (RDS) and the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), is a victory for scientists who say that the issue of animal experiments has been skewed in the UK because of vociferous -- and sometimes misleading -- protests from activists.
"The fact that the argument is hijacked by a few people with extreme views, distorts it," said Roger Morris, a neurobiologist at King's College London. Researchers said the ruling ...
