Animal suffering
The toxicity test carried out is based on the standard LD50 test and classed by the Home Office as being of “substantial severity.” It is an archaic test and one of the cruellest and most controversial animal tests.
The BUAV investigator found that the mice were injected into the abdomen with the botulinum toxin and then periodically observed to see how many died. The mice became increasingly paralysed, eventually gasping for breath and suffocating to death. The degree of suffering is appalling. No pain relief was provided for the mice.
As a token consideration with respect to animal welfare, workers were supposed to observe the mice and identify those who were judged unlikely to survive until the next check. This is a completely inadequate way of controlling suffering but in any event, using the company’s own data, the BUAV has discovered that this so-called humane endpoint was a sham because far more of the mice in question died an agonising death than were killed.
