Launched on 20 April 2006 by the Coalition for Medical Progress, a broad alliance that includes pharmaceutical companies and research agencies, the petition was proposed by a member of the public to represent the "silent majority who accept the need for animal studies".
[1] David Taylor stated that, as neither a scientist nor doctor, he wanted a way "to show people who carry out medical research that I value and support their work.
The following day, in the wake of publicity around a number of acts of intimidation by animal rights activists, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced in the Sunday Telegraph, that he intended to add his name to the petition.
As an unusual move for a serving politician, Blair described his intention as "a sign of just how important I believe it is that as many people as possible stand up against the tiny group of extremists threatening medical research and advances in [the UK].
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection praised Blair's stance in tackling extremists, but expressed concern that he was "blindly backing the animal experimenters" practising "outmoded science.