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Scientists at Cambridge University have been criticised for conducting
"utterly disgusting" experiments on mice.

The experiments involved blasting 40 drugged mice with the loud pulsating
music of dance band The Prodigy.

Seven of the mice who were forced to listen to the band at high volume
died.

They also behaved abnormally, and appeared to "jiggle backwards and
forwards" as the music pounded in their ears.

'Sick experiments'

On Thursday, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV)
expressed outrage over the experiment, which was reported in this week's
New Scientist magazine.

If you have an environmental stimulus that enhances the toxicity of
a drug which is taken recreationally, I think that makes the
research justifiable

Dr Jenny Morton, head researcher
Wendy Higgins, BUAV campaigns director, said: "These sick experiments are
absolutely despicable and will shock the public as yet another example of
the Home Office rubber stamping experiments that the majority of the
British public would find abhorrent.

"Just because people choose to take drugs and go to raves doesn't justify
subjecting animals to suffering and death in the laboratory in procedures
that will tell us nothing we don't already know - taking drugs and
listening to excessively loud music isn't good for you."

But head researcher, Dr Jenny Morton, insisted that the study was fully
justified and conducted responsibly.

Inject animals

She said it was part of a wider investigation into the long-term toxic
effects of amphetamines, which are still largely unknown.

Dance band The Prodigy was used in experiments


A total of 238 mice were used in the experiment, conducted at Cambridge
four years ago - the results were published in August in the journal
NeuroReport.

Mice given the drug methamphetamine - a strong form of "speed" taken in
clubs - were exposed to silence, white noise, or loud music either by The
Prodigy or Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor, which has a similar tempo.
Animals injected with salt water instead of methamphetamine fell asleep
when exposed to the music.

'Pulsating noise'

But the sound dramatically affected the drugged mice, causing them to
suffer more brain damage from the speed than normal.

Scientists concluded that loud pulsating music seemed to strengthen the
toxic effects of methamphetamine in mice.

As well as the seven Prodigy fatalities, four of the 40 mice made to
listen to Bach also died.

Dr Morton said on Thursday that the volume used - 95 decibels - was
equivalent to listening to a personal stereo turned up reasonably loud.

She added the nature of the music was irrelevant, and said it was the
"pulsating noise" that was important.

She said the only other attempt to investigate the effect of noise on
amphetamine toxicity was a crude experiment conducted in 1942 which
involved the researcher banging a filing cabinet near a group of mice.

Dr Morton said: "Amphetamines are taken recreationally in clubs and by
people like truck drivers who expose themselves to loud noise.

"These experiments were done as part of a larger study into the effect of
amphetamine on the striatum, a part of the brain which degenerates in
Huntingdon's disease.

"If you have an environmental stimulus that enhances the toxicity of a
drug which is taken recreationally, I think that makes the research
justifiable."

She added: "This experiment was done only once, and we would not have used
other animals unnecessarily."

Dance band The Prodigy was used in experiments