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EXEPOSÉ THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
27 October 2014 • Issue 629 • Twitter: @Exepose • www.facebook.com/Exepose • Free
Animal testing on campus
Students vote yes to Israeli boycott Gemma Joyce Editor
• Almost 30,000 animals involved in tests over seven years • 17,000 animals housed on Uni premises • Basking sharks among tested species EXCLUSIVE
Harrison Jones Editor THE UNIVERSITY has used 29,361 animals in procedures over a seven year period and currently houses around 17,000 on University premises, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI). Figures are not yet available for this calendar year but between 2007 and 2013, 29,636 procedures were conducted - an average of 4,194 each year - across all Exeter campuses. The vast majority of the tests,
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which are all legal, fall into the ‘mild’ category and no animals have died “as a direct result of procedures,” according to a University source, whilst many other universities house, feed and undertake procedures involving signi�icantly more animals than Exeter. 17,108 animals are housed on University premises and fed by the institution, according to statistics obtained by Exeposé in July, though this may have since changed. The 21 housed species include 7,725 guppies, 5,830 zebra �ish, 990 sticklebacks, 535 goodieds, 462 roaches and six squirrels. “Bees and other invertebrates” are also accommodated on Exeter
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Photo: Edwin Yeung
campuses but are not included in the �igures, whilst 200 pheasants are fed by the University but not housed. In a meeting and continued correspondence with Exeposé, the University declined requests for access to laboratories or animal housing areas on Streatham campus, despite claiming they would be “happy to… show you (a reporter) around” in an email dated 11 September. A spokesperson has since said: “We need to �inalise security and health and safety protocols to ensure that the research environment is not compromised in any way by external visitors. We will have protocols in place which could facilitate the host-
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ing of external visitors by early 2015.” Exeter have con�irmed that research in the �ields of animal behaviour and cognition, ecology and conservation, ecotoxicology, immunology and neuroscience are undertaken for various reasons, including pre-human drugs tests, scienti�ic research and behavioural studies. Last year, academics used the “intra-peritoneal injection of virus” on mice to “determine how the immune system responds to constantly mutating viruses;” over 700 birds “trapped and released in the wild” had “blood and feather samples taken;” whilst...
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EXETER students have voted in their hundreds in favour of the motion for the Guild to boycott illegal Israeli settlement products. 85 per cent of students favoured the motion, with 1,040 students voting in the referendum, making it one of the highest turn-outs so far this year. 131 students voted against the motion and there were 15 abstentions. Over �ive per cent of the student population voted, meaning that the policy will be implemented for three years. The boycott follows a media storm of images from the recent con�lict in Gaza, and the growing issue of illegal settlements in the West Bank. In August the NUS voted in favour of the controversial motion to boycott companies linked to the Israeli military, including G4S and Hewlett Packard, with Cardiff and Sussex amongst universities adopting similar boycotts. According to the motion document , student approval of the boycott would mean that, “the Guild would not buy any product made in the illegal Israeli settlements, and substitute any products already sourced from these settlements.” Representatives of the yes campaign said: “We are delighted with the result of the referendum, which brings the University of Exeter in line...
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