ANIMAL Aid supporters have been on the streets in 50 towns and cities across the UK, building public support for a ban on monkey research.

Around 10,000 primates are used in European laboratories each year, with about one third undergoing procedures' in Britain. Most will die having been deliberately poisoned with an overdose of chemicals or drugs by pharmaceutical companies.

Over a period of days, weeks or months, monkeys suffer the effects of these toxicity tests: retching and vomiting, uncontrollable diarrhoea, tremors, liver failure and death.

People wishing to know more about the Europe-wide campaign to end primate experiments should visit ww.animalaid.org.uk.

Kate Fowler-Reeves Head of Campaigns, Animal Aid, Tonbridge, Kent