Policy

Use of non-human primates in research

Summary| Working Group Membership| Terms of Reference| Review Group Membership| Project Downloads

The report of Sir David Weatherall's working group on 'The use of non-human primates in research' was published on 12 December 2006. The remit of this report, which was initiated in March 2005 by the Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust, was ‘to examine the scientific basis for recent, current and future use of non-human primates within biological and medical research’.

The report is the product of an independent working group; the sponsoring organisations did not provide input into the report's contents, conclusions or recommendations. In receiving the report, the four sponsors committed to consider its recommendations and to respond formally within 6 months of publication.

back to top

Sir David Weatherall FRS FMedSci (Chair)
Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford

Dr Peter Goodfellow FRS FMedSci
Senior Vice-President, Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline

Professor John Harris FMedSci
Sir David Alliance Professor of Bioethics, University of Manchester

Professor Robert Hinde CBE FRS FBA
Sub-department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge

Professor Dame Louise Johnson FRS
David Phillips Professor of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford

Professor Richard Morris FRS FRSE FMedSci
Professor of Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh

Mr Nick Ross
Broadcaster

Sir John Skehel FRS FMedSci
Director, MRC National Institute for Medical Research

Sir Crispin Tickell
Director of the Policy Foresight Programme, James Martin Institute for Science & Civilisation, University of Oxford

back to top

• To examine the scientific basis for the past, current and future use of non-human primates within biological and medical research.
  
• To assess the nature and implications of recent and prospective changes in the UK and global capacity to undertake non-human primate research.
  
• To review the use of alternatives to non-human primates in different fields of biological and medical research.
  
• In undertaking these assessments, to take account of associated ethical, welfare and regulatory issues, particularly with regard to the 3Rs principle of replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research.

back to top

The Earl of Selborne KBE FRS (Chair)
Chancellor, University of Southampton

Professor Brian Greenwood CBE FRS FMedSci
Professor of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Professor Tom Jessell FRS FMedSci
Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University

Professor Peter Lipton FMedSci
Head of Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge

Professor David Perrett FBA FRSE
School of Psychology and Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews

Professor Torsten Wiesel ForMemFRS
President Emeritus, The Rockefeller University, New York

back to top

• Report [2.08mb]
• Press release [112.32k]
• Sponsor responses [195.52k]

back to top