The University of Bath Ends Use of Forced Swim Test After PETA Campaign
The University of Bath Ends Use of Forced Swim Test After PETA Campaign
Bath – Today, the University of Bath confirmed – ahead of its licence expiring in June – that it has no plans to subject any more animals to the cruel and useless forced swim test, in which animals are forced to experience the terror of near-drowning under the erroneous assumption that it can reveal something about mental health conditions in humans.
“The forced swim test is a crude experiment that no institution should want to be associated with,” says PETA’s Vice President of Programmes, Elisa Allen. “We applaud the University of Bath for no longer terrorising tiny animals in a scientifically and ethically controversial experiment that does nothing to advance the treatment of mental health conditions in humans.”
The University of Bath was one of the last institutions in the UK still conducting the forced swim test, an experiment that induces panic in small, vulnerable animals by placing them into inescapable cylinders of water. The animals attempt to climb the steep sides of the container and even dive underwater, desperate to find a means of escape. Earlier this month, the University of Bristol announced that it too would stop conducting the forced swim test.
The University of Bath’s announcement follows a campaign by PETA, which saw, among other actions, hard-to-miss protests, and more than 50,000 protest letters from members and supporters. The animal protection group also released shocking video footage obtained from University of Bath laboratories showing defenceless mice swimming for their lives in sheer-sided containers.
Because the test has long been criticized by the scientific community, the Home Office recently announced its intention to eliminate all uses of the experiment – which would be the first time a specific test on rodents has been banned in the country- highlighting how unnecessary and cruel it is.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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