About Us

VERO is a University-based group established to oppose the University's construction of a new animal research laboratory, and to campaign instead for a more ethically responsible approach to biomedial research at Oxford. Founded in the summer of 2006, it unites academic and administrative staff, students and graduates in a broad range of disciplines. VERO is emphatically in favour of medical progress, but believes that the ethical principles underpinning it should be agreed by society as a whole, based on an open and informed public debate.

VERO is committed to peaceful, lawful campaigning, and to defending the tradition of intellectual freedom which has allowed enlightened, humane thought to flourish at Oxford through the ages.

Why A New Group?

We are concerned that efforts to further the cause of humane alternatives have been undermined by an unhelpful polarisation of the issue of animal research, to the exclusion of any objective discussion of the real issues. We feel it is time to call a halt to this confrontational approach. Instead, we advocate working together to replace the old-established animal model – whether maintained by the power of vested interests or institutional inertia - with humane alternatives that are appropriate to a more ethically aware and scientifically advanced age. An important step in this process is to persuade our own University – as one of the leading academic institutions of this country - to abandon its current plans for continuing animal research in favour of becoming a centre of excellence for humane research.

Mission Statement

As members of Oxford University, we are strongly opposed to the University's construction of a new animal research laboratory on both moral and scientific grounds. Such research can subject animals to considerable pain, stress and lasting harm. Equally, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that animals are neither safe nor suitable models for studying human diseases. Given the increasing availability of more sophisticated modern alternatives, we call on

• Oxford University to redirect the funds earmarked for the animal laboratory to much-needed human-based research, thus enhancing the University's reputation as a centre of enlightened and progressive thought
• The Government to conduct a genuinely independent evaluation of the scientific validity of animal experimentation. Such a course has been called for by 250 MPs (signatories of Early Day Motion 92) as well as by 83% of GPs, according to a recent poll.