TOM Bromley (Letters, September 23) feels that vivisection is justifiable and he is entitled to his opinion.

The fact is 2.7 million experimental procedures are conducted on living animals in Britain, of which 65 per cent are without anaesthetics, each year.

Animals may be electrocuted, surgically mutilated, exposed to radiation, burned or scalded, and many experiments do nothing to advance medical science.

Legislation must require each procedure to be licensed.

Useful research techniques which do not use animals already exist involving patients who are ill.

If we do not extend our morality to other species then the only explanation is prejudicial.

SHEILA BRENNAN (Mrs), Bombay Street, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.