AT the House of Commons recently MPs witnessed a shocking video produced by the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) revealing the routine suffering endured by laboratory animals.

Unlock the Labs is a film representing ten years of NAVS undercover investigation and countless years of animal misery.

The NAVS is calling for an end to the veil of secrecy surrounding the vivisection industry. With the Government's draft Freedom of Information Bill working its way through parliament, it has never been more crucial to support this call.

The NAVS is proposing that a mechanism is put into place whereby project licence applications to test on animals are challenged before they take place. This way, non-animal methods would be proposed in place of animal experiments, and repetitive testing prevented.

Researchers are always the first to claim that animal experiments are only carried out when absolutely necessary. We want to see this claim finally put to the test.

We are urging people to help us by supporting our call for freedom of information about animal experiments. For details on how to help the NAVS Unlock the Labs campaign, please call on 020 8846 9777.

JAN CREAMER,

director, NAVS.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.