Poll: People favor non-animal experiments

An increasing number of Americans reportedly favor donating to health charities that have a policy against funding animal experiments.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that works for alternatives to animal testing, says support for such charities has increased 20 percent during the past four years and by 31 percent since 1996.

PCRM commissioned the Opinion Research Corp. to conduct random telephone surveys in November 1996, November 2001, and July 2005. Pollsters asked individuals about their views on donating to health charities that do or do not fund animal research.

In this year's survey, 71 percent of respondents said it is important their donations be used for innovative non-animal research. Sixty-seven percent said they are more likely to donate to a health charity that has a policy of never funding animal experiments -- an increase of 20 percent from 2001 and 31 percent from 1996.

Support for humane giving is reportedly growing faster in older populations. In 1996, 70 percent of young people were more likely to support health charities never funding animal experiments, compared with 35 percent of those over age 65.

This year those under age 35 supporting humane giving increased to 81 percent, while 55 percent of older donors felt similarly.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International