NEW ANTI-VIVISECTION VIDEO FOR SCHOOLS
Posted 1 March 2001
Wasted Lives - the case against animal experiments
Animal Aid has always placed a strong emphasis on education. We provide resources for students and teachers on all the major issues of abuse, and suggest practical ways in which this information can be incorporated into academic work. We have contributed prominently to a changing ethos where students are beginning to question the exploitation of animals, with many now refusing to use them in their science coursework.
This rebellion is creating problems for the scientific community, leading it to target students by holding special science fairs, or by bombarding schools with videos and other propaganda. Largely funded by the mega-powerful pharmaceutical industry, it is investing considerable financial clout into glossy productions which argue that animal experiments are unfortunate but necessary.
For some time now we have been looking to produce a video which effectively counteracts this propaganda by revealing not only the obscene cruelty involved in animal research and the hopeless failure of the law to prevent it, but also by making a sound and logical case on scientific grounds - that using animals creates dangers to human health because the results obtained from experimenting upon other species cannot be applied reliably to people.
We now have our video. Entitled Wasted Lives, it will be a very powerful weapon in the fight to end vivisection. Producer Tony Wardle has done a remarkable job, and Alan Davies (better known to some of you as television's Jonathan Creek) describes horrific animal abuse in an understated, yet utterly compelling narration. Inevitably some of the footage is harrowing, but we show it as it is, knowing full well that many people are only convinced if they see what happens for themselves.
Interviewees who voice their support for our position include scientists, a doctor and a vet. They raise many objections - to the vested interests involved in animal experiments; to the suffering; to the lack of resources for potentially more accurate non-animal methods of conducting research; to the failure to emphasise preventative measures; and to the dangers to people of depending upon methods which are so wildly unpredictable.
We intend to make Wasted Lives available to all secondary schools. It comes in a package together with a teacher's guide to provide in-depth information about all the questions raised in the video. It also suggests student activities linked to national curriculum requirements.