Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Research

The Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Research is a Non-Profit organisation which awards grants to scientists undertaking medical research which benefits humans, without the use of animals.

Founded in 1973, the name of the Fund is in honour of the Battle of Britain’s Air Chief Marshal the Lord Dowding, a President of the National Anti-Vivisection Society. To date, the Fund has awarded grants approaching £2 million to researchers working in a wide range of research fields including microsurgery, toxicity testing of dental fillings, breast and lung cancer, product safety testing, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, cot deaths, cataracts, kidney research, cell culture, computer-aided drug design, biotechnology, brain damage and computer teaching packages which replace the use of animals in education of students at school and university level.

LDF grant around £300,000 per year for projects which show that medical progress is possible without the use of animals. LDF recognises that modern research techniques offer superior replacements to animal procedures. The major advantage is that, without the use of animals, there are no problems of species differences; the results can be directly applied to the human condition. LDF therefore aims:

• to support 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.

• to promote and assist any research for the purpose of showing that animal research is harmful or unnecessary to humanity.

External links

* [http://www.ldf.org.uk Official website]
* [http://www.rdinfo.org.uk/ Other site]