Members of animal welfare organisations held firm, with the justifying preamble producing a swing of just 14 per cent. The narrow majority in favour of animal research for our warm start question is slightly different from the results of other polls that have investigated public attitudes to the use of animals in medical experiments, which have tended to find a small majority against. But previous polls have not tried to delve beneath these superficial attitudes to find out whether people approve of specific experiments. Again, the sample was split. The experiment's goal and whether animals will suffer in any way are the most important factors.
Mice are by far the most commonly used animals in British laboratories.
The results show that a majority of people are prepared to accept that mice may suffer, if this helps to fight life-threatening diseases. There were clear majorities in favour of experiments to develop an AIDS vaccine or a drug for treating childhood leukaemia. But these positive views did not extend to all forms of medical research. The results for the experiments investigating the sense of hearing are striking. These are exactly the sort of basic biomedical experiments that the British Association's statement on animal research was designed to defend.