Animals still forced to smoke

12 March 2010 ~ 12:20

Animal rights campaigners have unearthed research papers that show such tests are still being carried out, despite their ban in the UK.

Both Philip Morris, who make Marlboro, and RJ Reynolds, the makers of Camel cigarettes, comissioned tests in which young rats were forced into small tubes and made to inhale smoke for 6 hours a day for 90 days. Their restraint was so severe that some died of suffocation, apparently while trying to escape. At the end of the study, those animals who were still alive were killed and their bodies examined. Not surprisingly, all the animals had suffered damage to their respiratory system.

These big corporations merely got around the UK ban by having the tests conducted in the US and Europe (Belgium & Germany). Shame on these countries that they still allow such cruelty!

BUAV (the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection), highlighted these experiments to coincide with National No Smoking Day on 10th March.
Their Chief Executive, Michelle Thew states: "It is outrageous that in this day and age, tobacco companies continue to subject animals to these horrific smoking tests when we all know how harmful smoking is to our health. Smoking is a lifestyle choice for humans and it is unacceptable that animals should suffer and die simply in an effort for companies to modify their products."



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