The Member of Parliament for Oxford, West and Abingdon, Evan Harris, did a great job this week of getting a parliamentary debate on the role of animal research in healthcare and medicines. 

Inevitably, as Dr Harris pointed out, this debate was set against a background of animal rights extremism. Everyone involved condemned the intimidatory tactics of the extreme fanatics who seek to impose their views through force and intimidation.

But Evan Harris drew attention to something which surprisingly few people have noticed - namely the weasel words of some anti-vivisection groups when it comes to the unlawful tactics of animal rights extremists.

In a current newsletter, for example, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) states that it is “unequivocally opposed to violence of any kind, whether that be the violence of vivisection itself or the harassment and intimidation that some people use as a means of protest.”

To compare lawful, highly regulated and carefully conducted medical research involving animals with the thugs and morons who lob bricks through windows at night and threaten people’s children is absurd. The BUAV should be ashamed of this position. It will do them little good in the long run.