Flushing away cancer research
Christchurch Animal Action will be out on the streets during Daffodil Day, encouraging members of the public to not
flush half their donation down the toilet.
By demonstrating in the central city this Friday, members of CAA hope to highlight the fact that an estimated half the
money donated by the public for 2002's Daffodil Day appeal was spent by the Cancer Society to fund vivisection.
CAA points to scientific evidence which shows that results obtained from animal testing are seldom relevant to humans,
sometimes leading researchers to assume harmful treatments are actually safe. This was tragically highlighted over 30
years ago when thalidomide caused severe infant deformities.
"Although the exact details to a majority of research are secret, we know that the Cancer Society was still funding
nicotine experiments on New Zealand animals as recently as 2002 - despite the well known effects of nicotine.
"When even their own directors admit that the results from animals cannot be 'extrapolated' to humans, one has to
question why the Cancer Society persists in wasting public donations on pointless and inhumane animal experiments,"
commented Michael Bone of Christchurch Animal Action.
"We hope the public will put pressure on the Cancer Society to fund reliable methods of cancer prevention in future.
Alternatives such as human cell cultures are a far better option, given that vivisection has seldom yielded any
breakthroughs despite years of torment for animal and human sufferers alike."