Letter: Cruelty to goats

Sir: Your article, "Goats used by MoD in submarine experiments" (3 August) says, "A minority of the experiments was conducted on animals that had not been anaesthetised." What is so terrible about today's experiments is that an increasing number are psychological tests which have to be done on conscious animals to gauge their mental and physical endurance of pain and deprivation.

As the very purpose of these tests is to assess the animals' response to intense and intensive suffering, one wonders how, or if, their welfare can possibly be covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986 which claims to limit the amount of suffering laboratory animals are exposed to.

Mrs JOAN HAGGARD

Harpenden, Hertfordshire