Sir I am absolutely appalled at how researchers, who insist on using animals in their research, deceive the public every time they are interviewed. After watching a re-run of John Stein's interview (Professor of Psychology at Oxford) in which he categorically stated, 'All medical progress over the last hundred years has come about through animal research', I felt compelled to expose this claim. John Stein makes himself look foolish by insisting upon using animals in research, and that medical progress has relied solely on this methodology. Vivisection is delaying medical progress and allowing hundreds of thousands of people to die from debilitating diseases, the evidence is irrefutable.

My research recently led to a California company who specialise in building computer models that assess how drugs will work in humans. They call them virtual humans and they are an extraordinary creation. This method allows the drug to be tested in all manner of ways, including, of course, its effect on the whole body. This is an argument animal researchers use time and time again: 'We use animals so that we can see how the drug affects the whole body'. They may well do, but through animals, they are using the wrong body. These virtual humans are science in its element they are progressive and successful and many pharmaceutical companies are showing an interest in this innovative research, and so they should, it is reliable, scientific and pain free.

Oxford University has the unique opportunity to create a laboratory that takes science forward, they can concentrate solely on the study of human beings through relevant research; human tissue, virtual humans, epidemiology, in vitro, cell culture, organ culture amongst many other forms of humane research. Animal research is a stagnant, if not backward looking, science; it is crude and unreliable. Therefore, it is incomprehensible why Oxford will not take the eminently progressive steps to build a superior, non-animal laboratory. By doing so they would help battle against human illness and eliminate animal suffering.

Sarah Brown (Miss), Oxford