Michael Festing
Michael Festing is a British research scientist best known for his interest in research using laboratory animals.
He is one of 19 members of the UK Animal Procedures Committee, which advises the Home Secretary on matters related to animal experimentation, one of five trustees of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME), which funds and promotes research into the use of animal alternatives (see FRAME's mission statement below). FRAME is financed by animal charities such as the RSPCA, as well as the pharmaceutical and animal-testing industries, [1] and a council member of the Institute of Laboratory Animals Research USA. [2]
FRAME's mission statement: FRAME was founded in 1969, to promote the concept of alternatives to the use of laboratory animals in medical research and toxicity testing. FRAME is dedicated to the scientific development, acceptance and use of replacement alternative methods, on which the long-term aim of eliminating the need for animal experiments altogether unavoidably depends. FRAME recognises that animals may still have to be used for some essential objectives to be achieved, and considers that the most immediate prospects for progress lie in reducing their numbers and in refining the procedures applied to them, so as to minimise their suffering.[3]
He is also a consultant geneticist to Harlan UK, which supplies animals for use in animal experimentation. [4]
He is the author of over 200 scientific papers on laboratory animal genetics and related issues. He has a particular interest in improving the design of animal experiments, particularly in the area of toxicology testing, and was the winner in 1996 of the GlaxoSmithKline Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize for his work while at the University of Leicester on "improved experimental design leading to reductions in the use of laboratory animals." [5] He has written books cataloguing laboratory animals, including International Index of Laboratory Animals and Inbred Strains in Biomedical Research.
Festing has been criticized by the animal-rights movement for his investment in companies that engage in animal testing, which according to the Animal Procedures Committee register of members' interests [6] includes AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Alizyme, Akambis, Cambridge Antibody, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Celltech. [7]
Life and education
Festing is a chartered statistician, has a Ph.D in quantitative genetics from Iowa State University, and a D.Sc. from the University of London.
He is the father of Simon Festing, the executive director of the Research Defence Society, which focuses on supplying information about, and defending, the use of animals in medical experiments in the UK.
References
- Brief biography of Michael Festing, PharmaDiscovery, retrieved February 22, 2006
- Corporate members of FRAME, Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments, retrieved February 22, 2006
- Current APC Members and Register of Interests, Animal Procedures Committee, retrieved February 22, 2006
- "RDS, Michael Festing, and Simon Festing: Who's Who", Americans for Medical Advancement, retrieved February 22, 2006
- "GlaxoSmithKline laboratory animal welfare prize", Research Defence Society