THREE Nobel laureates are among more than 500 British scientists who have signed a declaration supporting the need for animal experiments.

Their statement on the use of animals in medical research coincides with the closure this week of a guinea-pig breeding farm after years of violence and intimidation by animal welfare protesters. Academics have spent a month gathering signatures for the declaration, which was released yesterday on the fifteenth anniversary of a similar initiative by British scientists.

Those supporting yesterday’s statement include Tim Hunt, Sir Paul Nurse and Sir John Sulston, who are all recent winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, and 190 Fellows of the Royal Society and the medical royal colleges.

The declaration states: “Throughout the world people enjoy a better quality of life because of advances made possible through medical research, and the development of new medicines and other treatments. A small but vital part of that work involves the use of animals.” It acknowledges the importance of strict regulations in animal experiments, and the need to reduce procedures.

Last year the Government created a national centre for the replacement, refinement and reduction of animal experiments. It has provided grants to researchers for this purpose, but this has not produced a reduction in the number of animal tests: about three million a year.

The statement has also been signed by more than 250 professors — 100 scientists from abroad and nearly 100 scientists from industry — bringing the total who have added their names to more than 700.

Simon Festing, executive director of the Research Defence Society, which drew up the declaration, said: “It shows the strength and depth of support for humane animal research in this country. Abolitionist groups often claim that their position has scientific or medical support, but it’s no surprise that they cannot back this up.”

Fifteen years ago a similar statement was released by the British Association for the Advancement of Science; it was signed by 1,000 academics, including six Nobel laureates.

Yesterday’s declaration, reaffirming statements made in recent years by the Royal Society and a House of Lords select committee, says that researchers should gain the medical and scientific benefits of animal research, causing minimal suffering and distress and making every effort to safeguard animal welfare. Wherever possible, it says, the use of animals must be replaced by non-animal methods and the number of animals reduced.

There is also support in the declaration for greater openness, which, it states, “can be difficult in the face of animal rights extremism”.

Professor Nick Wright, dean of the London School of Medicine and Dentistry at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, said that the use of animals in medical research had made an enormous contribution to modern healthcare and public health.

Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist, said: “We would rather not use animals, and we try hard to find alternatives, but without the research we do there would be no progress in finding cures that alleviate pain, suffering and disease in animals as well as in humans.”

Other signatories include Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, and Professor Julia Buckingham, president of the British Pharmacological Society.

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