You may have read that Ben Obese-Jecty MP of Huntingdon visited Labcorp this week (Click Here)
In addition to inviting the MP to visit Camp Beagle we have also written to him with a more detailed reasons as to why the meeting should go ahead.
Dear Ben Obese-Jecty MP
I am writing as one of your constituents having seen your Facebook post of 27th August that you visited Labcorp in Huntingdon.
I assume you aware of the Camp Beagle campaign which is integrated to the physical, over 3-year long presence, outside the laboratory beagle breeders, MBR Acres (Marshall BioResources) PE28 2DT.
Camp Beagle have twice achieved 100,000 UK signatories in 6 months on petitions that have led to Parliamentary debates; 16th January 2023 and 19th February 2024.
The debate this year led to 5 Government commitments:
1. Double the Investment: UK Research and Innovation to double funding for research into the 3Rs (Replace, Reduce, Refine) and non-animal alternatives from £10 million to £20 million.
2. A Roadmap:‘A plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science’ to be published this summer.
3. Increasing the cost of animal research: An increase in fees for licences to use animals in research.
4. Considering licence duration:A review of the duration of licences for research using animals with a view to putting ‘more challenge into the system’.
5. Measuring public opinion: A ‘Public Attitudes to Animal Research Survey’ with the British public to be published in the autumn.
Re 1. Confirmation has been received that £5 million has been received by the National Centre for 3Rs but it is unknown if the new Government will honour the remaining £5 million.
Re 2. The Labour manifesto of a phase out is a very different proposal to a roadmap to be published this, Summer.
Re 3. Licences renew slightly every year however there are still no fees for the approx. 500 project licences application approved annually.
Re 4. This is a very important point as almost all project licences are granted for 5 years.
Re 5. The last Government’s own commissioned Ipsos Mori survey on UK public attitudes to animal testing in 2018 showed that 86% of people find it unacceptable to test on dogs for the purpose of medical research, even when that research is said to be for the benefit of human health.
I would like to suggest that you also arrange to visit MBR Acres and afterwards meet with Camp Beagle. Whilst a visit to Marshalls would need to be agreed it is essential that the time and date is left for you to decide so that you arrive without prior notice. Too many times the clean-up operation has been seen either when the calendar year Home Office Inspection is to take place or when the BBC were invited in to film. For the BBC a metal panel was actually removed from a shed and gauze inserted so it looked like the beagles could see outside and breathe fresh air. When the BBC left the metal panel was replaced.
View Camp Beagle Resource Sheets
I would also urge you to read the resource sheets on the Camp Beagle Website which explain the regulations of the International Harmonisation Council (ICH). These actually only amount to expectation to enable easier trade/licencing between the USA, Japan, the EU and UK. In reality even harmonising toxicity and safety tests between countries does not mean all countries will licence a drug, it is very variable and depends on a decision by the Regulator in each country (UK is the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)).
Also explained is what conditions are like in MBR Acres and their and other laboratory breeding facilities long histories of gross welfare violations. Marshalls in Italy the Directors were imprisoned and the facility closed. Envigo West Virginia USA, 4000 beagles were saved, yet days before it closed in May 22 the UK accepted an imported shipment of 96 (on 29.04.22) to the Envigo, Belton site. Envigo have since been fined US$35 million, this is the largest ever in Animal Welfare Act case history.
As for using animals at all it simply does not work. 92-96% of drugs fail during human clinical trials almost all because of efficacy and toxicity reasons that did not show up in non -predicative animal models.
The beagles and Non-Human primates (these likely included endangered species) you saw on your visit, it is evidenced that they add just 2% and 0.4% respectively, to existing probabilities of toxicity in humans, that is what their suffering and death contributes, it is insignificant. When animal tests falsely identify a safe chemical as “toxic,” the almost certain outcome is abandonment of further development. Undoubtedly many potentially beneficial drugs have failed animal testing and been lost to patients, even though they would have been both safe and effective, the magnitude of this type of “error” is unknown.
I assume at Labcorp you did not see a dog experience the mild classification procedure of gavage? This involves a flexible tube pushed manually down a dog’s throat into its stomach without any pain relief for 1-3 times daily. This procedure needs two people, one to hold the terrified, struggling puppy down while the other forcibly pushes a tube into its mouth. Videos are available of this ‘mild’ classification procedure on the camp beagle website, they also have recent testimony from UK whistleblower of exactly what happens. Camp Beagle can arrange for you to meet their beagle ambassador Scarlett, who has a scarred oesophagus due to her years in a Hungarian toxicity laboratory. I suggest you read this article whilst written specific to the USA the situation is the same globally.
Did you know that MBR Acres has a licence to bleed out dogs so that their blood and organs, even bones can be sold.
As for the COVID vaccine you say regarding animals: “without them we wouldn’t have had a vaccine for Coronavirus” this is absolutely not true. Regulators removed the requirement to prove efficacy in animals before they went to human trials. Human trials were conducted in parallel with – and sometimes ahead of – animal tests.
It is essential that you research the alternative view to the one that Labcorp has presented to you. Apart from Camp Beagle admin@thecampbeagle.com the experts worth contacting are:
- Animal Free Research UK
- Cruelty Free International
- FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments)
- Animal Aid
- PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
- Industry experts: Carol Treasure of XCellR8 and Julia Fentem of Unilever.
May I also suggest that you put forward a Parliamentary debate to radically divert funding, of circa £250 million, for the uptake of existing and the development of new human relevant Non-Animal Methodologies NAMs.
Finally, I would happy to meet with you personally to discuss the above.
The Camp Beagle Team