Action Needed Now: Ask Your MP to Sign Our Sepsis Open Letter

Imagine spending your life terrified in a tiny cage, only to one day be sliced open with a scalpel to have your intestines punctured, so that faecal matter leaks into your abdomen. The infection spreads, you suffer widespread pain, and then you are killed. That’s the reality for rodents used in sepsis experiments. Urge your MP to tell the government to end this!

Photo credit: © We Animals / Jo-Anne McArthur

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Rodents Cut Open

Cut open. Intestines punctured. Agonising sepsis symptoms. Then death. That’s the fate of mice and rats used in sepsis experiments in UK labs - but we have a chance to stop it.

Sepsis is a complex condition that kills around 48,000 humans each year in the UK. Experimenters purposely induce sepsis in rodents in grim attempts to find a cure, but they have repeatedly failed.

Dubious Science

Despite decades of experimenting on animals, there is still no targeted therapy for sepsis and no reliable method for early diagnosis. Sepsis in rodents differs significantly from human sepsis – meaning any results from experiments on animals are unreliable and misleading.

Get Animals Out of Sepsis Experiments

A growing number of institutes, including the University of Kent, are voluntarily abandoning the use of animals in sepsis experiments. In the US, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences announced in 2024 that it would no longer fund studies that include commonly used methods to induce sepsis in animals. The scientific community is realising that sepsis experiments on rodents are not only cruel, but pointless as well.

Take Action Now

The UK Government’s strategy to phase out experiments on animals is due to be published before the end of the year. It’s vital that this strategy includes clear objectives and timely milestones to end sepsis experimentation on animals and invest in state-of-the-art non-animal methods that better reflect the human condition. This is your last chance to tell your MP to sign our open letter calling for an end to the use of animals in sepsis experiments, so please do so today!

Fill out the form below to send a message to your MP. Your address will be used to find your MP’s contact details, and it will be included in your message to allow them to verify that you are a constituent. Please note: only UK residents can take this action.

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Dear {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName},

My name is {user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name} and I’m writing as your constituent – my postcode is {user_data~Postcode}.

I was delighted when the Government pledged to phase out experiments on animals last year. However, I'm concerned that unless the strategy to phase out animal testing includes clear targets and milestones for the elimination of specific kinds of experiments using animals, such as widely discredited experiments inducing sepsis in animals, it will not deliver on its promise to end the suffering of animals in UK laboratories.

Patients are being failed because, despite decades of animal experimentation, billions of pounds spent, and the suffering of countless animals, there is still no targeted therapy for sepsis and no reliable method for early diagnosis. Experiments using mice and rats are failing to provide meaningful treatments for this devastating human condition.

PETA experts have played a key role internationally in developing science-driven policies to replace experiments on animals with cutting-edge non-animal methods. Now, they need scientists and politicians to sign an open letter calling on the Government to include sepsis as a priority in the strategy on phasing out animal testing.

The roadmap is expected to be published before Christmas, so it is vital for you to take action now. As your constituent, I kindly ask that you sign PETA’s open letter as a matter of urgency: https://petauk.org/sepsisletter

If you have already signed the letter, thank you for acting on this important initiative. 
 
Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~Email Address}
{user_data~Address 1}
{user_data~City}
{user_data~Postcode}

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