Saturday 25th April 2009

Meet 12 noon, Hyde Park, Reformers' Tree, nr Speakers' Corner (Tube: Marble Arch)

To mark World Day for Animals in Laboratories, campaigners from all over the UK and beyond will be gathering in London on April 25 to call for an end to animal experiments. Following a march from Hyde Park through the centre of London, where we intend to take the anti-vivisection message to large numbers of shoppers, tourists and residents, we will then hold a rally at Parliament to protest against the government’s pro-vivisection policies.

It is now over 10 years since Labour was voted into government but any hopes that they would carry out their pre-election promises on animal experiments have long vanished. Soon after coming to power, the Government abandoned plans to hold an official inquiry into animal experimentation claiming this would be too costly. At the same time the Labour Party was accepting millions in party donations from powerful figures in the biotech and pharma industries, who were in return given key government positions and life peerages.

In the intervening years this has allowed the drug companies to wield huge influence over government policy. Far from the promised reduction and end of vivisection, in the past 3 years the number of animal experiments has actually started to increase for the first time since the 1970’s.

Meanwhile the Government continues to ignore growing scientific evidence that animal experimentation is a seriously flawed practice. There are fundamental physiological differences between different species, and even within species, which make animal testing unreliable and dangerous. Side effects from medical drugs are responsible for 18,000 deaths in the UK every year, the fourth biggest
cause of premature death after heart disease, cancer and stroke. Yet all of these drugs were passed as “safe” following tests on animals. Animal experiments have no place in 21st century science. The longer the scientific community denies this, the more shame it will bring upon itself.

This is the first time in years that the anti-vivisection movement has held a march in London to mark World Day, in previous years such marches attracted crowds of thousands. The march on 25 April is intended to revive the spirit of those earlier marches, to unite and mobilise the anti-vivisection movement, to attract new campaigners and to take the antivivisection message out to the public and to the heart of government.

It’s clear that we cannot rely on the government or the vivisectors to take the necessary action to put an end to this huge scandal. Please join us on 25 April and let’s make our voices heard for the millions of forgotten victims of vivisection.

Publicity We have posters and leaflets available to advertise the march, which we can send you by post, or you can download from the website. Please help us to spread the word by distributing them to friends and fellow campaigners, or by placing them in places such libraries, health food shops, community centres, offices etc.

To order leaflets and posters, please contact us at the address below, with a postal address and roughly how many of each you want. We have A5 colour leaflets and A3 posters (see left).

Download To download leaflets click here  http://www.wdail.org/flyer-poster.htm

Transport There will be transport from all over the country to the march and rally, please contact us if you want more details or check back for more info.

Other events. We are planning other events during the World Day weekend, including a social/info event in the evening in London after the march from 6pm to midnight.

Donations: The march and rally and other events for World Day in London are being organised by a coalition of individuals and grass-roots groups. Please consider making a donation to help us make the events a big success. Send Cheques/PO’s (payable to WDAIL) to WDAIL, BM Box 8623, London WC1N 3XX.

This website will be updated with information over the coming weeks and months, so check in for more info soon, or contact us if you have any questions.

We'll also be sending out regular email info updates, if you want to receive these direct let us know.

See you in London on April 25th

World Day Organising Group

WDAIL, BM Box 8623, London WC 1N 3XX.