British supporters of animal research are claiming a minor victory this week in their seemingly endless battle with animal rights activists, after the UK?s advertising standards watchdog censured People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA).

The decision was made against a fundraising leaflet that PeTA had mailed across the UK. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the flier made an implication that ?physiological differences rendered the results of animal experiments crude or inapplicable to humans.? This implication ?was misleading? the watchdog said.

The ASA also upheld a complaint against a PeTA claim that researchers are morally bankrupt individuals riding a ?ghastly gravy train?. The authority ruled that this ??unfairly denigrated researchers taking part in research using animals and misrepresented their motives for doing so.?

The news was greeted with some glee by Simon Festing, director of the pro-animal research group the Research Defence Society, who pointed out that it came not long after animal activists were confronted in the Oxford University battleground by a protest led by a schoolboy.

?Just weeks after a 16 year old boy took on the Animal Liberation Front in Oxford, the Advertising Standards Authority has exposed the misinformation of the biggest animal rights group in the world,? he said in a statement.

Festing also notes that ASA also upheld a group of complaints against the group Europeans for Medical Progress a few months ago.