UK: British scientists who blasted drugged mice with loud dance music in a "tasteless" experiment have been reprimanded by the Home Office.
Seven mice forced to listen to the band Prodigy after taking a strong form of amphetamine or "speed" died, while others suffered brain damage.
Animal rights campaigners were outraged by the research, described by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) as "tasteless and horrific".
Today, a year after the results were first published in the journal NeuroReport, the Home Office confirmed it had taken "infringement action" against the Cambridge University team led by Dr Jenny Morton. The BUAV said it was appalled that the researchers had got away with a "slap on the wrist".
The mouse study was a "by-product" of research into Huntingdon's disease for which the Cambridge scientists had obtained an animal experiment licence, the Home Office said.
A total of 238 mice were used, half of which were injected with the drug methamphetamine and half salt water.
The drugged mice were then exposed to silence, "white noise", or loud music. The music played was either from dance act Prodigy or Bach's Violin Concerto in A Minor, both of which have a similar tempo.
Animals injected with salt fell asleep when the music was played. But the sound dramatically affected the drugged mice, causing them to suffer more speed-induced brain damage than normal.
They appeared to "jiggle backwards and forwards" as the music pounded in their ears.
As well as the Prodigy fatalities, four mice made to listen to Bach also died.