As a vegetarian I find animal experimentation unacceptable. I also believe that it is not the immensely useful instrument of research that it is claimed, because many of the results from animal studies are not replicated in humans.
Here's the start of a letter I've just come across in PLOS:
"The only people who don't know in 2005 that animal research is irrelevant for human disease are those who don't understand it or those who benefit from it. As a physician, clinical researcher, and former animal researcher, I know that though they are our closest genetic relatives, primates have failed as research models virtually whenever they have been used."
Read the full letter here:
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10%2E1371%2Fjournal%2Epmed%2E0020278
