Animal Defenders International

Animal Defenders International group is comprised of ADI, NAVS and LDF and campaigns to protect animals from suffering in industry, from abuse and neglect all over the world. ADI also promotes and funds non-animal scientific and medical research to replace unreliable, unethical and unnecessary testing on animals.

ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL (ADI)

www.ad-international.org

As our name suggests, the mission of Animal Defenders International (ADI) is to educate, create awareness and alleviate suffering as well as to safeguard and protect animal species and their environment.

ADI’s ‘Stop Circus Suffering’ campaign, based on solid evidence gathered by Field Officers working in the industry, combined with scientific studies on the effects of captivity and transport in animals, has brought about bans on animal circuses around the world. Other campaigns include the use of animals in entertainment, which highlights the cost to animals of their use in the entertainment industry, and seeks to end this suffering through legislation. The ‘My Mate’s a Primate’ campaign is a drive for action to save primates from extinction. ADI established International Primate Day, which is held every year on 1st September. ADI also campaigned for significant changes to Directive 86/609/EEC on animals in experiments. A key achievement of the ADI campaign was the adoption of Written Declaration 40 by the European Parliament in September 2007, supporting a ban all primate experiments in the EU starting with wild-caught primates and Great Apes. With 433 MEP signatures, it had record-breaking support. This led the European Commission to propose a ban on tests on Great Apes and wild-caught monkeys in its proposal for a new EU animal testing legislation published in November 2008. We also campaigned throughout Europe on the REACH chemical testing regulations, achieving a substantial reduction in the number of animals to be used in chemical testing, in favour of advanced scientific techniques. The campaign to end the use of animals in cosmetics testing is nearing its ultimate goal.

ADI has gained a reputation for achieving well-planned and successful animal rescues from all over the world to bring distressed species to safe havens to live out their lives, including animals from Portugal, Italy, Mozambique, Chile and the UK.

ADI headquarters:
Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 020 7630 3340
Email: info@ad-international.org

NATIONAL ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY (NAVS)

http://www.navs.org.uk

Every year, millions of animals suffer and die in cruel and futile experiments. The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) campaigns for an end to all animal experiments. Founded in 1875, the NAVS is the world’s premier anti-vivisection group and produces technical reports, educational material, books and films to highlight the plight of laboratory animals.

The NAVS undercover Field Officers work in laboratories and obtain first-hand evidence of animal suffering and poor scientific practice. Its Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Research funds and supports non-animal scientific and medical research.

The NAVS is calling for an end to government secrecy on the animal experimentation licensing process, to allow outside experts to challenge animal tests and suggest alternatives. The NAVS’ long-running campaign for freedom of information on animal experiments continues through Europe, with specific demands for openness and accountability in the review of Directive 86/609 on animal experiments.

The NAVS has, together with ADI and LDF, put forward a raft of proposals for changes to the UK’s Animals {Scientific Procedures} Act 1986 and Directive 86/609.

World Lab Animal Week is commemorated all over the world each year around 24 April and was founded by NAVS in 1979. To mark World Lab Animal Week in 2008 the NAVS launched a campaign to ban the use of animals for testing for household products. Click here to learn more about the ‘Kick Animal Testing Out of the House’ campaign: http://www.navs.org.uk/take_action/41/0/1174/ and here to know more about the NAVS in general: http://www.navs.org.uk/home/

NAVS headquarters:
Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 020 7630 3340
Email: info@navs.org.uk

LORD DOWDING FUND FOR HUMANE RESEARCH (LDF)

www.ldf.org.uk

The objectives of the Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Research are to support, sponsor and fund better methods of scientific and medical research for testing products and curing disease which replace the use of animals; to fund areas of fundamental research which lead to the adoption of non-animal research methodology; to fund, promote and assist medical, surgical and scientific research, learning, and educational training and processes for the purpose of replacing animals in education and training; and to promote and assist any research for the purpose of showing that experiments on animals are harmful or unnecessary to humanity.

Projects have included cancer, Parkinson’s disease, cot death, infertility, computer-aided drug design, MRSA, toxicity testing of dental fillings, microsurgery training, dialysis, toxicity testing, and many more.

In September 2006 LDF successfully launched the world class, high-technology medical facility at the Aston University MRI Research Centre. The fMRI scanner, funded by LDF, is at least twice as powerful as fMRI scanners in hospitals and enables incredibly sensitive study of the human brain and neurological disorders. The new facility is acknowledged to be a milestone not only in terms of technology – as the most powerful of its kind in the UK - but also in terms of replacing the use of animals in research as it facilitates the latest human-based scientific analysis of the brain.

LDF is also helping scientists to develop software programmes that replace the use of animals in university science teaching. Professor of e-learning at Edinburgh University, David Dewhurst, is making effective computer based learning alternatives available to universities everywhere and has been awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, one of the highest honours in his profession.

Projects funded in 2008 by the LDF include research into the development of an all-human 3D blood-brain barrier for the study of brain tumour metastases, cartilage repair with ultrasound and an in-vitro (test tube) model for testing eye-lenses for cataract patients.

LDF headquarters:
Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 020 7630 3340
Email: info@ldf.org.uk