A CAMPAIGN has been launched to boycott four leading medical charities accused of supporting “horrific” animal experiments.

Welfare group Animal Aid is urging members of the public to halt donations to Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Society and Parkinson’s UK.

The organisation has published a report, Victims of Charity, highlighting charity-funded tests that were said to cause “appalling suffering” to animals such as mice, monkeys, pigs and dogs.

Examples included damaging the brains of monkeys with toxic chemicals, slowly destroying dogs’ hearts, grafting cancer into animals and the use of diseased genetically engineered “mutants”.

The campaign is backed by national newspaper adverts as well as postcards for members of the public to send to the charity chief executives with their comments.

Animal Aid is calling on the public to withhold financial support from the four charities until they pledge to stop funding animal experiments.

Director Andrew Tyler said: “Animal Aid is under no illusions as to the pro-animal research lobby’s significant financial and political clout. But the British public do not like the idea of animals enduring great suffering to no purpose, and Victims of Charity argues that this is precisely what is happening.

“Our high-profile campaign, supported by a series of national newspaper advertisements, will put the charities under a great deal of pressure to rethink their research strategy.”

The report, written by a hospital doctor and a veterinary surgeon, is based on published accounts of experimental procedures and reviews in leading specialist journals.

In total 66, charities were identified that used public donations to fund animal research. However, the four named charities were singled out as organisations of “some standing and authority”. Together, the four charities have a collective income of more than £710m a year.

The report said the charities were unhelpful when asked for detailed information. It added: “What all charities have in common is a determination to conceal the nature and extent of the animal suffering for which they are responsible.”

The authors listed almost 80 charities they said did not support animal experiments.

They also questioned the necessity of conducting research on animals to benefit human health, claiming such experiments were “wasteful and futile”.