RDS applauds the major institutional shareholders who have pledged in a letter to the FT today that they will not cave-in to animal rights extremists. The story is front-page news of the FT. Seven leading international financial institutions with billions of pounds invested in the health sector have said that they will maintain substantial shareholdings in companies that are legitimately engaged in lawful research to the benefit of society.

The group includes the Wellcome Trust which itself is a world leading funder of all types of medical and veterinary research, including research using animals. The Wellcome Trust has had for many years a robust policy on the use of animals in medical and veterinary research, and give substantial background information to that policy on their website.

This move is surely a sign of growing confidence within the scientific and financial community that the Government is serious about tackling animal rights extremism.