FRAME Annual Lecture FRAME and Parliament
New Parliamentary group FRAME is providing the secretariat for a new parliamentary group.
Every year FRAME holds its annual lecture, featuring the latest developments in the field of the Three Rs. Speakers are gathered from leading institutions and organisations concerned with the implementation of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. The inaugural lecture was given in 1999 by Bill Russell, one of the authors of the work that introduced the Three Rs principles to research. Since then there have been talks by many key figures and the lecture is always well received by its invited audience. One of the speakers, Jon Richmond, former Chief Home Office Inspector, described it as ‘The most prestigious annual UK lecture on the Three Rs’.
Other speakers have included: Horst Spielmann of the Freie Universität Berlin, Ian Kimber of the University of Manchester, Rodger Curren of the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Alan Goldberg of CAAT at Johns Hopkins University, Julia Fentem of Unilever, Vicky Robinson of the NC3Rs, and Kelly BéruBé of Cardiff University School of Biosciences. In 2009, FRAME’s 40th anniversary year, Trustees Michael Balls and David Morton looked back at the charity’s record and considered the future of the Three Rs. In 2005 the lecture was renamed to commemorate the life of Bill Annett,
10
who served as a FRAME consultant for many years and died, aged 92, while still supporting the charity. He had been awarded an OBE in the 1998 New Year Honours, with the citation, “for services to animal welfare, especially FRAME”. Since then the lecture has carried both titles. This year will be the thirteenth FRAME Annual Lecture/the seventh Bill Annett lecture.
2011 Speaker This year’s speaker is Kevin Park, Professor of Pharmacology and Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Liverpool. He is also Director of the MRC Centre for Drug Safety Sciences. The over-riding theme of his work is bridging “molecule-to-man” and back again, that is, enabling the prediction of adverse drug reactions based on the chemical structure of the drug and the identification of susceptible human individuals. This work has been expanded by using pharmacogenomics and toxicogenomics to link findings in patients to the chemical structure of the drug. His lecture is entitled: “Mechanisms of adverse drug reactions: from man to molecule and back again”. Professor Park has received a number of honours and distinctions which include the BPS Sandoz Prize for Pharmacology, the Pfizer Medal for Innovative Science, The SmithKline and Beecham Prize for Clinical Pharmacology, The Vane Prize for Drug Metabolism, and The Werner Kalow Lectureship (Canada).
http://www.frame.org.uk
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experimentation held its inaugural meeting in July and was entered in the register of all-party groups. It replaces the All-Party Parliamentary FRAME Group, which had been in almost continuous existence since 1981. The Group includes members of all parties, and both Houses of Parliament, who are concerned about laboratory animal use and its Chair is Nic Dakin MP. Its function will be to monitor and advise on future legislation concerning the use of animals in laboratories in the UK, and to promote the Three Rs and the use of non-animal alternative procedures. There is still much work to be done to ensure that new laws preserve the UK’s existing high standards of welfare and scientific validity and continue to improve on them.
EU Directive negotiations FRAME is among a group of animal welfare and alternatives organisations who have met with Home Office officials to discuss the implications of the new EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific and other experimental purposes. There are concerns that the Directive does not go far enough in promoting the Three Rs and that some of the measures could actually lead to a reduction in existing standards of care. It removes the special protection currently offered to dogs, cats and equids and would allow the use of great apes in certain restricted circumstances. FRAME has submitted detailed recommendations in response to Home Office consultation on the Directive, which is due to become part of UK law in January 2013.
FRAME News