Why the Oxford animal lab must be built.
The medical research community has welcomed the restart of the Oxford building project. This research centre is vitally important for the future of biomedical research in the UK. The prospect of completion of the half-finished building symbolises our ability to continue essential animal research in the face of intimidation and harassment by animal rights extremists.
The government and criminal justice system are finally tackling extremism so that we can continue to use animals in research to overcome serious medical conditions like strokes, cancers, cystic fibrosis and malaria. Oxford’s own proud tradition in this area ranges from penicillin 60 years ago to 21st century deep brain stimulation which has already improved the lives of over 20,000 people with Parkinson’s disease.
The new research centre will provide top class facilities for such research and also for the animals involved, a point that the extremists apparently choose to ignore. The extremists are also blind to public opinion. They claim to represent the public, but neither their views nor their tactics enjoy much support.
Opinion research has shown that the majority of people have no sympathy with violence in the name of animal rights, nor do they support the abolition of animal research, the extremists’ ultimate aim. Among Oxford students, a survey towards the end of last year showed considerable support for animal research and the building of the new research centre. The same is probably true of local residents, who are heartily sick of the antics of the antis.
RDS debates the use of animals in medical research at many universities. We have found very strong support from students • not just from science students but from many other faculties too. For instance, in November last year we soundly trounced the anti-vivisection opposition in a debate at Durham University. In August last year RDS produced a Declaration on Animals in Medical Research, which was signed by over 500 leading UK academic scientists, including three Nobel prize winners.
By the end of the year the total was 1,000. The Declaration reaffirms positive statements about the need for humane animal research, by independent and expert enquiries such as those by the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures in 2002 and the Royal Society in 2004. The latter concluded, ‘We have all benefited immensely from scientific research involving animals.
From antibiotics and insulin to blood transfusions and treatments for cancer or HIV, virtually every medical achievement in the past century has depended directly or indirectly on research on animals. The same is true for veterinary medicine.’ The Declaration also supports increased openness and transparency, which, it states, ‘can be difficult in the face of animal rights extremism’. Research establishments should provide clear information and foster rational discussion.
We fully support Oxford’s decision not to disclose critical information that could jeopardise the project; nevertheless it is taking up this challenge. Increasingly it is engaging with the media and it has gone so far as to print a small booklet explaining its animal research, which we urge everyone to read.
12th Jan 2005