The Peta direct mailing, which included a questionnaire, featured "proven facts" about animal product testing. However, the leaflet produced by the animal rights group was judged by the Advertising Standards Association to contain a number of claims that could not be substantiated.
The Peta leaflet stated that "nearly 3m sensitive animals -- monkeys, rabbits, mice and others -- are killed in the UK each year in painful experiments". The ASA responded that while Peta had submitted evidence of 3m animals dying as a result of animal testing, it did not support its claim that the deaths were painful.
Peta also claimed that experimentation on animals was "crude and unreliable", noting that most important medical advances were attributable to studies on humans.
The ASA countered that although Peta had adequately demonstrated that animal physiologies were different from humans, "we considered that the implication that physiological differences rendered the results on animal experiments crude or inapplicable to humans was misleading".
Peta went on to describe animal testing practices as a "ghastly gravy train". The statement was adjudged to be misleading -- inferring that animal researchers "continued to carry out animal experimentation, ignoring viable alternatives, merely out of habit, inertia or a desire for profit".
In its ruling, the ASA highlighted how the Home Office only grants licences for animal experimentation according to strict criteria, saying: "It is illegal to conduct experiments on animals if an alternative is available."
The ASA has advised Peta not to repeat its claims in the absence of substantiation.
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