EMP is peddling yet more erroneous pseudoscience(1), and Tony Benn is fronting their latest drivel.

Benn is a long-time advocate of animal rights and abolishing animal research, but he has more reason than your average joe to be grateful for research involving animals – he had a pacemaker fitted in 2005.

Pacemakers have depended quite heavily on animal research. In the 1950s animal studies demonstrated the restoration of heart rate, cardiac output and mean aortic pressures with complete heart block through the use of a myocardial electrode. The first pacemakers (1950) were crude, painful and powered from an AC wall socket; a potential hazard of electrocution of the patient by inducing ventricular fibrillation. However, by 1957 control of post-surgical heart block was a significant contribution to decreasing mortality of open heart surgery. Further animal research led to the development of implantable pacemakers (1960), leading to Mr Benn’s life-saving treatment.

Now in this democratic society I respect Mr Benn’s right to disagree with animal research, but I certainly don’t respect hypocrisy.

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(1) a film about medicines – I’ve been told it’s deathly dull as well as riddled with pseudoscientific inaccuracies, but have been put off so thoroughly by the press release (where they say "Watch this film for an insight into just how far scientific methods have come since thalidomide" – a strange comment since one of the main ways scientific methods progressed was increasing the rigour of animal testing and legislative requirements that would have averted the thalidomide tragedy) that I just haven’t been able to bring myself to sit through it yet… I’ll report back next week on what I think.