The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group, founded by

Stephen Paget Stephen Paget (17 July 1855 – 8 May 1926) was an English surgeon and pro-vivisection campaigner.Understanding Animal Research Understanding Animal Research (UAR) is a British membership organisation formed in late 2008 through the merger of the Research Defence Society and the Coalition for Medical Progress. Its main aims are to "explain why animals are used in medical ...

. The Research Defence Society's aim was to disseminate information about, and to defend the use of, research involving animals, including

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

. It represented the interests of 5,000 researchers and institutions. Its sources of funding changed over the hundred years that the society was active, and included individuals, government the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

and universities. The organisation's literature stated that it was funded by its members, including medical scientists, doctors, veterinarians, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, universities, and charities that support medical research. Its last executive director was Dr.

Simon Festing Simon Festing is operations director of the CIBSE. Education Festing graduated in 1987 as a Bachelor of Medicine from the London Hospital Medical College. He worked as a medical doctor for three years before leaving medicine in 1990 to study En ...

, who became CEO of Understanding Animal Research. One campaign to demonstrate the support for animal research within the scientific and medical community was the co-signing of a petition in support of the use of animals in research called Declaration on Animals in Medical Research.Declaration on animals in medical research
/ref> The declaration was signed in 1990, and a modified version in 2005. Over 700 scientists, of whom 500 were British, signed the declaration in the first month, including three

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

s, 190

Fellows of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

and the

Medical Royal Colleges In the United Kingdom, some Commonwealth realms and Ireland, a medical royal college is a professional body in the form of a royal college responsible for the development of and training in one or more medical specialities. United Kingdom and Irel ...

and over 250 academic professors.

Notes

{{reflist

References

*Understanding Animal Research website (the RDS site no longer exists

*Woods, Richard & Ungoed-Thomas, Jonathan
"A campaigning hero"
''Sunday Times'', February 26, 2006 Animal testing in the United Kingdom Vivisection