SIR – I’m constantly sickened by adverts or events that raise donations for Cancer Research UK, who carry out barbaric experiments on animals. Do people realise that donating to Race For Life supports animal experiments?

There are many fantastic charities out there who use donations to give direct care to people and support non-animal research.

In this day and age we should be moving to non-animal research. There are many other options available.

It saddens me that Race For Life which seems so positive and brings many people together who have been devastated by the effects of cancer pays for animal experimentation!

Next time you make a donation to anything, check to see what you’re paying for.

Animal Aid have an extensive online list of charities so you can check who you can safely give money to without harming animal and human life (Animalaid.org.uk).

Join the campaign against animal experiments at the University of Bradford (Academicabuse.wordpress.com).

Z Martindale, Ascot Drive, Horton Bank Top

Harpal S Kumar, chief executive, Cancer Research UK replies: “Cancer patients and their families are at the heart of everything we do, and we believe that all our research is vital if we are to save more lives in the future.

“Almost all of Cancer Research UK’s funding comes from the public and we are extremely grateful for their continuing support. Race For Life is Cancer Research UK’s biggest fundraising event, helping to bring in £60m to help our life-saving work to beat cancer.

“We work to minimise the number of animals used in cancer research, however, in certain areas this work remains essential if we are to understand, prevent and treat cancer. It is also a legal requirement that potential new treatments are tested in animals before they can be tested in trials in people.

“We follow strict Government guidelines to ensure that non-animal techniques are used wherever possible and we only use animals when there is no alternative. We work with a number of medical research organisations to investigate the potential of non-animal techniques which could help to replace the use of animals in research in the future.”