2009 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique by William M.S. Russell and Rex L. Burch.
Their book elaborated the Three Rs concept of replacement, reduction and refinement, as a way in which the inhumanity directly or indirectly involved in performing potentially painful experiments on non-human vertebrates, could be diminished or eliminated altogether.

Since it was first published in 1959, there has only been one new edition, and it has been out of print for many years. Also, whilst the writing was always rich in the English language, it is now somewhat dated and not always easy to read. With this in mind, Michael Balls came to the conclusion that despite this being such a ground-breaking work, the overwhelming majority of those who are involved with the ethical and scientific questions raised by animal experimentation are unlikely ever to have read The Principles itself.

He therefore set out to update, simplify and clarify the original version, in order to make it more accessible to a wider audience. The Principles was originally presented by Replacing Animal Research to each participant in the 7th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, which took place on 30 August to 3 September 2009, in Rome, Italy, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the publication of W.M.S. Russell and R.L. Burch’s outstanding book, and also to mark our own 40th anniversary.

We’re now pleased to offer this abridged version of Russell & Burch’s influential work, with a foreword by Cleo Paskal, as a free PDF download.