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Disturbing images have emerged showing how monkeys are being used to test the safety of new weight-loss drugs.
The unprecedented footage supplied to The Mail On Sunday was secretly filmed by a lab worker at two UK testing plants who said he was horrified about the 'immense distress' the animals endured.
Restrained long-tailed macaques have new anti-obesity medication fed into their stomach to help assess if it is fit for human use.
Beagles, pigs, rabbits, and other species also underwent 'extreme suffering' during trials for other new drugs before they can be sold in high street chemists, the worker said.
This includes not only potential treatments for serious diseases but many new products of everyday medicines such as headache tablets, cholesterol drugs, reflux medications, antihistamines, antibiotics, and antidepressants.
All the animals that survive the tests are killed at the end of the process and their bodies dissected for further studies.
The UK testing facilities he worked at are contracted by major pharmaceutical companies to conduct required safety tests on animals before they can progress to human clinical trials.
Both sites are Home Office regulated and operating completely within the law.
But the former lab worker said he wanted the footage and details of what happened to be released to ensure an informed public debate on the use of animal testing.
He described being 'haunted' by the shrieks and whimpers of animals during the trials, which could last for up to two years.
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