EDMS

Anti-vivisectionists have for a long time sponsored an 'Early Day Motion' (EDM) in the House of Commons against animal testing. EDMs are statements that Members of Parliament (MPs) put their signatures to. They are not law, but rather indicate the level of support for an issue.

At the moment, over 200 MPs have signed the anti-vivisectionists' EDM 92, despite the fact that, as a 2003 poll showed, 76% of the British public are in favour of vivisection - hardly democratic! Furthermore, the assumptions behind EDM 92 are either false or misleading, and the organisations behind it, such as the Europeans for Medical Progress, are regularly slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority for publishing false information. You can see a full rebuttal of these claims here. Luckily, Dr Evan Harris MP has sponsored a new EDM in support of vivisection and Pro-Test.

What to do:

Go here, and type in your postcode if you need to check who your MP is.

Next, look at EDM 92. You can use the drop-down menus on the right to sort the names alphabetically and check to see if your MP has signed the anti-vivisection EDM.

If they have signed EDM 92, please write to them asking them to remove their signature. If they haven't, you could write to them urging them not to sign it. In either case, you should also ask them to sign EDM 1850, which is the pro-vivisection alternative. You can check to see who has signed it here. As you can see, bizarrely, a third of signatories to EDM 1850 are also signatories to EDM 92, which suggests that many MPs' commitment to the anti-vivisectionist cause is not particularly heart-felt, despite this EDM being used constantly as an expression of 'popular support'.

Your letter can be short (200 words or so), and is more likely to be effective if written in your own words than copied and pasted from elsewhere. You can write to your MP at the following address
[Your MP's name] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Alternatively you can fax your MP via the internet using this free service, though snail mail tends to be more effective in getting a response.

Do let us know if you get a response from your MP.