Today we went to Parliament to give a presentation on our petition asking for a ban on the Forced Swim Test - the animal test that involves mice and rats being forced to swim in inescapable beakers of water.

We presented to the Science Select Committee (the group of MP's deciding on the fate of our petition). NZASVS staff (our Executive Director and Campaign Manager) were joined by Roz Holland, a Scientific Advisor to SAFE and Dr Emily Trunnell, a Research Associate at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

The only other presenter was Professor Johnson, a scientist appointed by the Select Committee themselves as they considered him an expert witness and even he agreed that the Forced Swim Test is a useless test!

While we definitely didn’t agree with everything Prof Johnson openly stated that the Forced Swim Test is a useless test. During his presentation he said:

"In terms of its efficacy it's really not a great test, it doesn't seem to do what it's reported to do."

"Many groups in the past have used it in ways that are inappropriate and have drawn conclusions from it that are inappropriate and I think the reduction in its use over the last decade...speaks to its utility as a test which is not much."

Now we have to wait to find out what the select committee’s recommendation is. You can watch the full presentation here.