The recent (29 May) Daily Telegraph/YouGov poll shows

‘High-profile campaigns, such as intimidating scientists and threatening shareholders in pharmaceutical companies, appear to have backfired badly’

However in a bizarre twist of logic NAVS is claiming

‘that the activities of a handful of extremists are being used as a smokescreen by the Home Office to hide the fact that animal experimentation is steadily rising in the UK’

Steadily rising is rather strong, especially when much of the small rise is because of counting normal animals that might be, but are not, genetically modified.

The YouGov poll also shows that less than 20% of people think alternatives are always available. NAVS also recycles arguments that microdosing is the big solution (when it is not).

NAVS also implies it is a big funder of alternatives. Its claim

‘NAVS has funded a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanner costing nearly £500,000 at Aston University for more effective brain research into strokes and cancer - an alternative to animal experiments where electrodes are inserted into monkey brains.’

is interesting as the funding is from a charity with only £300,000 a year to spend. It’s strange this funding is not credited by Aston!

No one denies this technology is useful, least of all science, industry and government who are investing the rather more impressive sum of £76 million! What was that about the need for more funding for alternatives .... ?