Activists lash out at Israel over increased animal testing (AFP)

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Animal rights activists on Thursday expressed outrage over what they called Israel's lack of control over animal testing as official figures showed the experiments were up 11 percent last year. "The major problem is that Israel does not respect international norms," said Anat Refoua of the Let the Animals Live group. "There are no efficient controls to determine whether this testing is justified and whether they cause the animals to suffer," she told AFP. A total of 340,637 such experiments were conducted in Israel in 2007, an 11 percent increase over the previous year, the health ministry said in a report published on Thursday. It said 40 percent of the experiments caused the animals to suffer. It said 41 percent of the experiments were done for medical research, 40 percent for other scientific research, 15... [read full story]