People who support the use of animals in medical research are planning to take on animal rights activists with the launch today of a campaign to give the "silent majority" a louder voice.

The People's Petition, launched by the Coalition for Medical Progress (CMP), will ask members of the public to sign up to a set of statements supporting medical research and will call for scientists using animals to be allowed to carry out their work without fear of intimidation or attack.

"According to Mori research, 75% of the population accept the need for animal studies in medical research but this silent majority rarely gets heard," said a statement by the CMP. The petition is the brainchild of a Londoner, David Taylor, 31, whose attention was drawn to the subject by a spate of newspaper stories.

He referred in particular to the Hall family, who gave up breeding guinea pigs intended for medical experiments on their Staffordshire farm last year after a campaign of intimidation by local animal rights extremists that began in 1999. Their decision to leave the business was partly due to the desecration of the grave of Gladys Hammond, mother-in-law of one of the owners of the farm.

"That got myself and my friends talking and asking how could this kind of thing be going on, was there a resistance to it and was there a way of registering our support for these poor people?" said Mr Taylor, who has no background in medicine or biology.

"I'm not very interested in taking to the streets and campaigning and carrying placards. And I wanted some way to say I support the work of medical researchers and I think it should happen in this country, it's valuable. And I think that the people who do it should be able to do their work and live without fear."

The petition comes at a time when animal rights protesters are stepping up campaigns against the construction of an animal research laboratory at Oxford University. They have already delayed its construction by several months after their protests led to the original contractors, Montpellier, pulling out of the project.

John Martin, of University College London, who uses rabbits and mice in his medical research, said the petition was important for researchers who feared attacks from extremists. "If you remember the film Spartacus, when the Romans said 'stand up Spartacus', all his mates stood up. If we all do that, they will be no target and the threat will disappear."

Jo Tanner, chief executive of CMP, said: "The strength is in the numbers. The anonymity allows people to feel secure for their details to be kept privately but, by the same token, add their voice to the debate." Support is registered anonymously at www.thepeoplespetition.com.

Supporters will sign up to three statements: that medical research is essential for developing safe medical and veterinary treatments, requiring some studies using animals; where there is no alternative available, medical research using animals should continue in the UK; and that people involved in medical research using animals have a right to work and live without fear of intimidation or attack.