Michael Festing is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 research scientist best known for his interest in animal testing

Animal testing

Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...

.

He is one of 19 members of the UK's Animal Procedures Committee

Animal Procedures Committee

The Animal Procedures Committee advises the British Home Secretary on matters related to animal testing in the UK. The function of the committee was made a statutory requirement by the Animals Act 1986 , which mandates that it should have at least 12 members, excluding the chair...

, which advises the Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 on matters related to animal testing. He was previously a trustee of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments ' is a charity based in Nottingham, UK.FRAME promotes consideration of the ethical and scientific issues involved in the use of laboratory animals for medical research, and the adoption of the Three Rs strategy of alternatives to animal...

 (FRAMEhttp://www.frame.org.uk/), which funds and promotes research into the use of animal alternatives. He is also a council member of the Institute of Laboratory Animals Research USA. http://www.apc.gov.uk/members/interest.htm

Most of Michael Festing's career has been involved in promoting reduction of the numbers of animals used in research. Nonetheless, Festing has been criticized by the animal rights movement for his investment in companies that engage in animal testing, which according to the Animal Procedures Committee register of members' interests, http://www.apc.gov.uk/members/interest.htm includes AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...

, GlaxoSmithKline, Alizyme, Akambis, Cambridge Antibody, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Celltech

Celltech

Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...

. http://www.curedisease.com/mediafestingwhois.html

He is also a consultant geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...

 to Harlan UK

Harlan (company)

Harlan Sprague Dawley Inc. is one of the world's leading suppliers of animals and other services to laboratories for the purpose of animal testing...

, which supplies animals to laboratories. http://www.apc.gov.uk/members/interest.htm

Life and education

Festing is a chartered statistician, has a Ph.D in quantitative genetics from Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

, and a D.Sc. from the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

.

He is the father of Simon Festing

Simon Festing

Simon Festing is chief executive of the Society for General Microbiology.-Education:Festing graduated in 1987 as a Bachelor of Medicine from the London Hospital Medical College...

, the executive director of the Research Defence Society

Research Defence Society

The Research Defence Society was a British lobby group. At the end of 2008 the Research Defence Society merged with another UK organisation - the Coalition for Medical Progress to form Understanding Animal Research ....

, which focuses on supplying information about, and defending, the use of animals in medical experiments in the UK.

Research

Festing is the author of over 200 scientific papers on laboratory animal genetics and related issues. He has a particular interest in improving the design of animal experiments, particularly in the area of toxicology testing. He has written books cataloguing laboratory animals, including International Index of Laboratory Animals and Inbred Strains in Biomedical Research.

Award

He was the winner in 1996 of the GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...

 Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize for his work while at the University of Leicester

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....

on "improved experimental design leading to reductions in the use of laboratory animals." http://www.rds-online.org.uk/pages/page.asp?i_ToolbarID=4&i_PageID=163