The ex-Beatle, whose late wife Linda was a passionate animal rights campaigner, has been signed up to spearhead the campaign by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV).

Linda McCartney died aged 56 after a long battle with breast cancer

The song - The White-coated Man - from his wife's album Wide Prairie has lyrics adapted from a poem by writer and fellow animal rights campaigner Carla Lane.

BUAV says that in the last three years 6,000 British animals have suffered and died in experiments for products including carpet cleaner and washing powder.

Consumer boycott

And it says the government should ban animal testing of household products on the grounds they are too trivial to justify it.

Sir Paul is backing a call for consumers to boycott companies which use animals to test their products.

He said: "I've cleaned my house of animal-tested products - won't you do the same?

"Together, let's tell the 'white coated men' we want clean products and a clean conscience."

• Sir Paul was recently voted the greatest composer of the millennium by BBC News Online readers.