Research Defence Society

The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and public-policy advocacy organisation founded in 1908 by Stephen Paget. It was established during a period of intense public controversy over vivisection and animal experimentation, when anti-vivisection campaigns challenged the scientific legitimacy and moral acceptability of using animals in medical research. The society positioned itself as a voice for researchers, doctors, veterinarians, universities, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, and charities involved in medical science. Its central purpose was to explain and defend research involving animals, including animal testing, and to counter what it regarded as misleading or ideologically driven criticism of biomedical experimentation. The organisation disseminated information about the claimed medical value of animal research and sought to demonstrate that support for such work existed across the scientific and medical communities. In this role, it functioned both as a learned or professional society and as a lobbying and communications group. Over the course of its roughly hundred-year existence, the Research Defence Society represented approximately 5,000 researchers and institutions. Its membership and stated support base included medical scientists, doctors, veterinarians, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, universities, and medical-research charities. Its funding arrangements changed over time and included contributions from individuals, government, the pharmaceutical industry, and universities. The organisation described its funding as coming from members and affiliated supporters, although the precise composition of funding varied across its history. A notable public initiative was the Declaration on Animals in Medical Research. First signed in 1990 and revised in 2005, the declaration was intended to show that substantial support for animal research existed within the scientific and medical professions. More than 700 scientists signed during the first month of the original declaration, including more than 500 British scientists, three Nobel laureates, around 190 Fellows of the Royal Society and the Medical Royal Colleges, and more than 250 academic professors, according to descriptions of the campaign. The society remained active for approximately one hundred years. At the end of 2008 it merged with the communications group Coalition for Medical Progress, creating Understanding Animal Research, a successor advocacy organisation focused on explaining and defending the role of animals in biomedical research. Dr. Simon Festing, the Research Defence Society's final executive director, became chief executive of Understanding Animal Research. The Research Defence Society therefore ceased to operate as a separate organisation after the merger.

The Research Defence Society was founded in Britain in 1908 by Stephen Paget against the backdrop of the early twentieth-century dispute over vivisection. Anti-vivisection organisations opposed experiments on animals on ethical and scientific grounds, while supporters argued that animal studies contributed to understanding disease and developing medical treatments. Paget established the society to provide an organised scientific and medical response to anti-vivisection campaigning, which the society regarded as hostile to rational and evidence-based medical inquiry. Throughout its existence, the Research Defence Society combined the characteristics of a scientific society, a professional representative body, and a public advocacy organisation. Its principal activity was not the conduct of laboratory research itself, but the communication and defence of research involving animals. It produced and disseminated information intended to explain the purposes of animal experimentation and to support the position of scientists, clinicians, veterinarians, research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, universities, and medical-research charities. The organisation's constituency expanded beyond individual scientists. It represented approximately 5,000 researchers and institutions, and its stated membership or support base included medical scientists, doctors, veterinarians, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, universities, and charities that supported medical research. Funding sources changed over the society's century of activity and included individuals, government, the pharmaceutical industry, and universities. The society's own literature presented the organisation as funded by its members and affiliated participants in medical research rather than as a commercial enterprise. One of its best-known campaigns was the Declaration on Animals in Medical Research. The declaration was signed in 1990 to demonstrate support for animal research within the scientific and medical professions. According to accounts of the initiative, more than 700 scientists signed within the first month, including more than 500 British scientists, three Nobel laureates, approximately 190 Fellows of the Royal Society and the Medical Royal Colleges, and more than 250 academic professors. A modified version of the declaration was issued in 2005, continuing the effort to present animal research as supported by a substantial professional constituency. By the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, the organisation operated in an environment in which public communication, media relations, regulation, and ethical debate were increasingly important to the future of animal experimentation. Its work remained focused on defending the legitimacy and claimed medical value of research involving animals, rather than on selling products or operating research facilities. At the end of 2008, after roughly one hundred years, the Research Defence Society merged with the Coalition for Medical Progress, a communications group. The combined organisation became Understanding Animal Research, which continued advocacy and public education concerning animal research in biomedical science. Simon Festing, who had been the Research Defence Society's final executive director, became chief executive of the successor organisation. The merger marked the end of the Research Defence Society as an independent British society and advocacy group.

• 2008

  Merged to form Understanding Animal Research

  [1]Research Defence Societyen.wikipedia.org

  The society merged with the Coalition for Medical Progress, creating Understanding Animal Research and ending the RDS's independent operation.

• 2005

  Modified declaration issued

  [1]Research Defence Societyen.wikipedia.org

  A revised form of the Declaration on Animals in Medical Research was issued as part of the society's continuing public advocacy.

• 1990

  Declaration on Animals in Medical Research introduced

  [1]Research Defence Societyen.wikipedia.org

  The society promoted a declaration signed by scientists and medical professionals as evidence of professional support for animal research.

• 1908

  Research Defence Society founded

  [1]Research Defence Societyen.wikipedia.org

  Stephen Paget founded the society in Britain to oppose anti-vivisection campaigning and defend the use of animals in medical and scientific research.

Scientific society and advocacy group supporting and communicating the medical and scientific case for research involving animals.

• Professional declaration and advocacy campaign · 1990

  Declaration on Animals in Medical Research

  A public declaration designed to demonstrate support for animal research among scientists, doctors, and other medical professionals. The original declaration was associated with a 1990 signing campaign, and a modified version followed in 2005. It was a communications and advocacy instrument rather than a commercial product.

• Scientific communications

  Animal research information and advocacy materials

  The society disseminated information intended to explain the role of animal experimentation in medical and scientific research and to answer anti-vivisection arguments. These materials supported its representative and lobbying functions on behalf of researchers and institutions.

• 1990Declaration on Animals in Medical Research

  United Kingdom

  The Research Defence Society organised and publicised a declaration intended to show that animal research had substantial support among the scientific and medical professions. More than 700 scientists reportedly signed during the first month, including Nobel laureates, Fellows of the Royal Society and the Medical Royal Colleges, and academic professors.

  Outcome. The declaration became one of the society's most prominent demonstrations of professional support for animal research. A revised version was issued in 2005.

  Source

• 2008

  Merger with the Coalition for Medical ProgressM&A

  Background

  After about one hundred years of activity, the society operated in a public environment where the communication of scientific evidence and the defence of animal research were central to its mission.

  Action taken

  The Research Defence Society merged with the Coalition for Medical Progress to create Understanding Animal Research.

  Aftermath

  The Research Defence Society ceased to exist as a separate organisation. Its final executive director, Simon Festing, became chief executive of Understanding Animal Research.

  Source

1. 1Research Defence Societyen.wikipedia.org