Researchers say they are being forced to carry out experiments with animals if they want their work to be published, after their studies were rejected because they did not include an animal test. However, a UK-based defender of animal testing said claims of a divide between scientists were being exaggerated by animal rights campaigners.
In a study carried out by the non-profit Index on Censorship organisation and shared with The Independent, some said they were refused funding if they questioned the validity of animal-based methods. Others remain silent because they are worried about the implications when they go before grant review panels and journal editorial boards.
In a global survey, a third of respondents said they had been asked by peer reviewers to add animal experiments to non-animal studies.
Lisa Jones-Engel, who spent years conducting tests on monkeys in biomedical research, said she was ejected from a conference two hours before she was due to speak after telling the organisers she now worked for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).
Organisers texted her asking to meet. “There’s the three of them plus the chair, and then they said, ‘Leadership has decided that you can’t do this’,” she told Index.