Scientists told to stop wasting animal lives

Bad experiments for stroke and cancer drugs produce poor results, say research chiefs

Research agencies have ordered UK scientists to improve the way they use animals in experiments. Too often poorly designed projects - to test new medicines for strokes, cancer and other conditions - have produced meaningless results and wasted animals' lives, the organisations have warned.

In some cases, researchers - desperate to control the costs of their work - have underestimated the number of animals needed to test a new medicine. As a result, their tiny studies have lacked the power to pinpoint biological effects in the drugs under scrutiny. These unreliable results mean the lives of the animals involved have been wasted, along with scientists' time and resources. The over-use of animals in experiments has also led to unnecessary loss of their lives.