Its close association with the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) hasn’t stopped the Dr Hadwen Trust, in its latest report, Let down by Labour, striking a blow against BUAV’s current campaign to ban the testing of household products on animals.

‘Let down by Labour’ claims any success of the household product testing campaign will have ‘negligible benefit to animals’, and talks about the need for the Labour party to shift away from such ‘meaningless wins’. We blogged about the report last month. We agree about negligible benefit for animals, considering that government figures for 2007 show just one procedure (on a rabbit) to test a household product, which is one more than the previous year.

BUAV’s campaign to ban testing on household products appears to be a main focus of its activities, with its website promoting it, in addition to a dedicated website, and press releases singing the praises of the companies who have opted to ‘go cruelty free’ - notably the Co-op and Marks and Spencer. It currently has 171 signatures for its parliamentary petition calling for a ban - EDM 1215, which it talks about in its recent news.

You would perhaps think the antivivisection groups would be a little more supportive of each other, and avoid putting out such mixed messages, if they want to attract public support.