Safer Medicines Campaign: scientifically compare animal experimentation against human biology-based tests

I sent a postcard from the Safer Medicines Campaign to my MP Kerry McCarthy today. This campaign is an independent patient safety organisation of doctors and scientists whose concern is whether animal testing, today, is more harmful than helpful to public health and safety. [Their] goal is to protect human health by promoting human-specific medical research. The wording on the postcard is as follows:

Please sign EDM 569, which calls for an unprecedented comparison of currently required animal tests with a set of human biology-based tests, to see which is more predictive of safety for patients.

EDM 569 does not seek to ban any animal tests but merely to assess them scientifically.

A million Britons are hospitalised by prescription medicines every year, costing the NHS £2 billion (Sarah Boseley, The Guardian, 3 April 2008). These figures must be improved. There is evidence that human biology-based technologies may be more predictive of safety for humans: hence the need for a scientific comparison.