News, gossip and opinion i L n
:3 STOP EXPERJMENTS
Anti-vivisection group hits out at lifestyle drugs tests
Apparently the drugs don’t work
World Lab Animal Week highlights rats on ecstasy. Words: Louisa Pearson
he National Anti-Vivisection Society
has turned its attention to ‘lifestyle
drugs’ as the focus of this year’s World Lab Animal Week. Its campaign headline reads: ‘Animals don’t drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, take ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine, use sugar substitutes to lose weight . . . Should they suffer to indulge people?’ While many people are prepared to accept animal testing to produce drugs with medical benefits, few would agree that animals should suffer just to find out the long-term implications of getting off your tits every weekend.
Experiments highlighted by NAVS include a study at the University of Edinburgh in which rats were given ecstasy for three days then studied for sixteen further days before being decapitated. At Huntingdon Research Centre in Cambridgeshire, dogs have been force-fed and injected with an artificial sweetener - sucralose - despite it having been the subject of 113 studies and being available in 30 countries. The aim of World Lab Animal Week is to raise awareness of such
directed l‘r‘y
he. Darren Aronofsky rP.
practices. Campaigners around the country will demonstrate, hand out information and wear ‘silver lock’ badges to show their support.
The events are part of a bigger NAVS campaign over the Freedom of Information Act which became law at the end of November, but which doesn’t yet encompass vivisection. The government is concerned about violence against animal experimenters, fearing that a repeal of Section 24 - a secrecy clause of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986 — would increase the chance of extremists targeting the experimenters.
NAVS argues that there is no need to publish the names and addresses of individuals, but that repealing the section would create opportunities to oppose experiments, recommend alternative methods and question the validity of the research.
I l"-.’or'/d Lab Arr/rna/ l'r/eek. Sun 22—3”: 25? Apr. For t‘ietar/s contact »\latrt)rrar’ Ant/- V/v/sectron Soc/en: 26 x' Gold/rank Road. London. it" i ’3 OPE. 080 88-16 9777.
12‘”.‘viu’hl‘.}>.()r'(;.t/f\
Coming quite soon . . .
Brad Pitt Is to star rn are none other than an untrtleu scrence It‘trort eprtt to he
Trey Parker and
first lrr. e actron ser'res. the ‘.'~.'hrte House
b'oaocast r'tgnts . . . It had Travrs nex‘. ahurr r we Purse/e Banu .s
single out on 28 May . . South Park creators Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are wonder Matt Stone wrtn therr collaborating on a $120 mrllron teleuSron sprn-ott of Say/mg Fit-Boa of“ For A [)"ea'r‘ sitoo'r‘ That's Pruate Fr’l’an. Band Of and the torthctWirng Bus". No.‘. error: Barmar‘: Yea," One . Channel -1. DU‘, those The plot rs herng kept under \‘Jl’dlDS . . to happen. George W. Bush satrrrsed. And — you'll lone thrs ~ June wrth ‘Srng'
the r‘esponsrble partres contrrrrred as the first
Brother's. shot tn the UK. follows a GI. unrt from trarnrng to the D- Da, landing. The show he Jr'en‘rered rr‘. a for release or‘. ‘ ‘. spec:all‘, menstructed audrtorrum heSrde Normandy Utah
xt mssgs 2 gv drnk ads Nitebleep targets clubbers with mobiles
Tune entrerrreneurral graduates of Glasgey. Unrwr'srty. Thorrras l rnoexe' and Crarg Manson. plan to rexolutronrse ttar and lllgtttt‘ttlt) promotions rn UK ttrtres \.'.'rth therr SMS text rrtessagrng senrce Justaheer)ttorn The compam wrl! launch rts trrst serxrces harbeeptfom' and 'nrteheep.corn' at the Lrghthouse. Glasgoy-s. on lhurstlay 1%) Aprrl, sendrng clut) lrstrngs and drrnks prorrtotrops rntormatron direct to mobrle phone users.
Subscriber's enter therr detarls tree of charge at the wehsrtes ‘.‘.’\‘."\".’.t)£tlt)()(?l).(?()lll and \wax'rnrtel>eep.com and the seryrces respond drretttly to your phone wrth the tarlor‘ed rntormatron. (3:3 yenues are takrng part tn the i§(:l\'l(i(?. among them Bar Buddha. Ocho. the Tunnel and the Velvet Rooms. «Catherrne Hromleyl
Scottish film company fades to black
Producer blames lack of investment
Glasgow-based productron company Antonrne Films has gone down the tubes. The company. set up by 59-year- old producer Paddy Hrgson. who established Scotland‘s trrst rndependent productron outfrt. Black Cat Productions. twenty years ago and produced Peter tvlullan's trlm Orphans. ceased tr‘adrng alter the Glasgow Development Fund pulled rts funding. Wrth twenty new projects rn devel0pment when the plug was pulled. Hrgson has crrtrcrsed Antonrne's sponsors for not Investing long term.
Thrs news comes at a trrne when Scottrsh frlrn talent rs tlourrshrng — next Issue The Lrst rs runnrng a New Scottrsh Frlmmakrng specral feature. But without horr‘regrown operatrons such as Antonrne. who wrll charnpron the nation's filmmakers? erles Frelden
Peter Mullan’s drphans
Christopher Walken rs to appear rn the vrdeo for the new contemporary art Fatboy Slim vrdeo for gallery agency. ‘Weapon Of ChOrce'. doggerfisher. Opens to be drrected by
On 12 May oft Spike Jonze . . . The Edrnburgh's Gayt’reld search rs on for the Square. Founder and Edinburgh poetry former Lrst art crrtrc champion.
Susanna Beaumont SubranSrons to: Peter krcks oft doggertrsher Qurnn at United Press ‘.'.'rttt a solo show by Ltd. 1 Yorke Street.
hot property Jonathan Burnley 881 t tHD by 30 June
Beach on 6 June . . Scotland's new and Only rndependent