SIR: The views of Lynn Williamson on animal research (BEN, May 24) would find very little support from mainstream medicine and science. A recent British Medical Association survey showed that 19 out of every 20 doctors agree that animal research is important to medical progress. A survey of Nobel Prize winners at the end of last year was unanimous that animal research has been, and still is, vital for advances in medicine.

Of the Nobel Prizes for medicine, two-thirds of those awarded this century have been for developments which depended on animals. These include insulin for diabetes, antibiotics, vaccines, transplantation, ECG and CAT scanning, as well as basic understanding of the nervous system, immune system, vitamins and hormones. The 1996 Nobel Prize was for discovering how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells. This work, which depended on studies using mice, gives hope for better treatments for diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and cancer.

Although animal research is still vital, a great deal of scientific effort has led to a halving of numbers of animals used since 1976. We all welcome this, and we must make sure that the animals which are still needed are treated humanely and carefully and used only when there is no alternative.

Barbara Davies

Deputy Director, RDS

Great Marlborough Street, London

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