Sepsis Survivor Fern Britton Slams ‘Diabolical’ Animal Experiments
Television presenter, best-selling author, and sepsis survivor Fern Britton teamed up with PETA to send an urgent letter to Science Minister Lord Vallance and Minister of State at the Home Office, Lord Hanson, urging them to end “diabolical and utterly illogical” sepsis experiments on animals and shift resources toward superior, human-relevant methods.
Fern Britton and Sepsis
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to infection that progresses rapidly and kills more people in the UK each year than breast, bowel, and prostate cancer combined.
Britton, who contracted sepsis in 2016 after developing an infection following a routine hysterectomy, notes in the letter that “despite decades of research, billions in funding, and the suffering of countless animals, we still lack effective, targeted treatments.” This failure costs the UK up to £15.6 billion annually.
“Non-animal methods – including in vitro models, computational biology and use of human patient data – are humane, readily available, and far more representative of human biology.” – Fern Britton.
Mice Cut Open and Killed
Mice and rats are intelligent, highly social animals who live in tight-knit groups and have complex social hierarchies.
In UK laboratories, animals used in sepsis experiments are typically cut open, their intestines punctured so faecal matter leaks into their abdomen, before being stitched up and left to suffer as sepsis destroys their organs. The animals may endure fever, chills, diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, lethargy, disorientation, shock, and multiple organ failure before they are killed.
Sepsis in humans is distinct from sepsis in other animals, making the results of such tests unreliable and misleading.
Join Britton and Help Animals in Laboratories
Britton joins more than 27,000 compassionate PETA supporters in urging the government to stop authorising the use of animals in sepsis experiments. Will you add your name too?
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