ANTI-VIVISECTION MOVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 79, 28 December 1920, Page 5

ANTI-VIVISECTION MOVEMENT

CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN

CONSIDERABLE HEADWAY BEING MADE

"We are making considerable headway in our campaign against vivisection. If our present rate of progress continues, and I see' no reason why it should 1 not, as our membership increases with greater speed each year, there wiirsoon be a body of public opinion in this country which, will oompel our legislators to make laws totally prohibiting the, cruel and useless practice of experimenting upon animals in the name of natural science and progress," said Mr. Arthur Middletoii, secretary for tho Manchester branch of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, fo a representative, of tho "Christian Science Monitor" in the course of a conversation on tho work of the anti-vivisection movement in Great Britain.

"Our president, Mr. W. R. Hfldwen, divides his time between a largo practice in Gloucester and the- direction of our activities. We are represented in Parliament by Mr.. J, F. Green, who so decisively defeated My. Ramsay Mac Donald at the 1918 general election. Before his time we -wero represented l by Mr. H. G. Chancellor, who worked so heroically for tho. soldiers' freedom on the question of inoculation and who was instrumental in getting many wrongs redressed, and ultimately, with oui* backing, sot. the War Office to issue an order concerning Lord Kitohener's pronvse that men who joined his army should be free to choose for or against inoculation. "Mere Pin-Pricks." "Why do you include inoculation in your campaign, seeing that, you are -a society formed primarily to abolish experiments on animals?' asked the interviewer. "Because," ' replied Mr. Middleton. "every serum which is on the market is claimed to bo tl\e result of animal experimentation, and 1 because the great bulk of vivisectional experiments are inoculation experiments, which tho provivisector describes as a 'mere pinprick,' a description which is designed to throw dust in the eyes of the public, as - these pin-pricks result in weeks and months of" unceasing suffering for the victims. Our "method of dealing with inoculation is first of all to show the cruelty it involves, and then to prove not only it 6 ineffectiveness, but its danger. Tho war, unfortunately for the soldiers, afforded us with almost innumer-;, able instances of failure -and in many cases injury resulting from inoculation. '.'So anxious did the wire-pullers Decome of our campaign, that a .private and confidential circular letter, of which this is a copy, written as we believe at their instigation, was sent from the press bureau to all tho newspapers in tlw ■country, asking them not to publish any statement published by our society. This, of course, made our work all tho moro difficult, but we 6tuck to our guns and secured, as I have already said, a victory for the men. Our charge of manipulated statistics wMch we have made against the Army medical authorities has been fully borne out-by Lieut-Col. J. F. Donegan, who, writing in the 'Medical World' of March 6, 1920, under the caption "Eradicating Disease,' tells how he himself has changed the names of diseases from which military patients under his charge were suffering.

Diagnoses Changed. "And he goes in to tell bow; a certain director-general ■ having ordered' a reduction in the number of sore throats notified. a. fall from 1839 cases to nil wiw obtained, the ingenious method adopted (called the. Spot Plan. System) being to impose so many burdens on the staff in connection with each notification that 'wise and experienced .officers diagnosed all cases 'of sore throat .as sprains and contusions, and in practice it was found that-they'recovered just as quickly.'

"On inoculation this officer has somo very interesting things to say," went on Mr. Middleton. "'lf a modern soldier,' lie writes, 'is to be inoculated' against every disease, if the water 'he drinks is to be continually medicated, and if perfect sanitation is to be maintained.in his surroundings, it .is only fair to admit that to keep him in health, the Army ia, so .to speak, driving three horses -in one coach. The thing to find 1 out is which of the three horses is doing the work and whether, with due regard to economy, one horse would not be able to do what three are doing at present. If inoculation really gives immunity, and if, the reduction of-certain diseases is due to inoculation, well, then, the chlorinating of water and the minute sanitary precautions are superfluous. If, on the othor -h'ajid, the- chlorinating of water will prevent disease, surely the inoculation against disease could be dispensed with.'

Serum Business Profitable. "That," said Mr. Middleton, "is exactly our position. The fact of tho matter is, the manufacture of vaccines an<l serums is a profitable business, as this catalogue of' a well-known chemicnlmanufacturing firm will show. Our fight really is against vested interests, who, op always, have, with one or two exceptions, the entire Press on their side, j "But powerful as the forces against us seem, we are not in the least discoursed, because the increasing number of letters of inquiry, the growing number of callers .at this office, and the greater demand for lectures show that public interest in .our cause is steadily growing. With regard to our lectures, it is a significant fact that wherever our lecturers go they are sure to be rednvited to deliver further lectures, and in every case, in the discussion whioh follows, the majority take our side of tho case.

"We are fortunate in Manchester in having such a paper as the 'Manchester City News,' which freely throws open its columns for the discussion of our cause. We have plenty of evidence that these discussions create a lot of interest, one of the results being largely increased audiences at our public meetings. If every editor was as fair to us as the editor of the 'City -News,' I would give vivisection only a very short time to sunave, for my long experience In antiviviseotion work has taught me that the moment the normal man or woman knows tho truth about vivisection, its horrors and its dangers, he or she immediately takes a stand' agaipot it, and nothing seems to shake their position. Taking everything into consideration,' w<j have every reason to bo encouraged in our work, which is daily bearing fruit, and in which in this branch alone has more than doubled its since 1914."