Simon Festing

Simon Festing is chief executive of the Society for General Microbiology.

Education

Festing graduated in 1987 as a Bachelor of Medicine from the London Hospital Medical College. He worked as a medical doctor for three years before leaving medicine in 1990 to study Environmental Technology at Imperial College, graduating with an MSc in 1991.

Career

Festing did voluntary work for Greenpeace from 1992 to 1994, before joining Friends of the Earth in 1994, where he was employed as their transport and wildlife campaigner until 1998. He worked as a campaign leader for Help the Aged from 1998–1999, then became Director of Public Dialogue for the Association of Medical Research Charities, an umbrella group representing 100 medical-research charities, a post he held from 2000 until 2004, when he joined the Research Defence Society (RDS).^[1] He was chief executive of Understanding Animal Research (formally RDS)^[2] from 2004 until June 2011, when he joined the Society for General Microbiology.

Personal life

Simon Festing is the son of Michael Festing, a member of the UK Animal Procedures Committee, and former trustee of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. He is married and has two children. His wife is author Ismat (Issy) Festing, who was previously a dentist.

Public profile

In December 2005, Festing appeared on a British reality TV show, The Devil's Challenge,^[3] in which he was subjected to procedures used in animal labs, later engaging in an online debate with John Curtin, an animal-rights activist.^[1][4]

References

v t e Animal testing Main articles Animal testing Alternatives to animal testing Animal testing on invertebrates Animal testing on frogs Animal testing on non-human primates Animal testing on rabbits Animal testing on rodents Animal testing regulations Experimentation on prisoners History of animal testing History of model organisms Laboratory animal sources Toxicology testing Issues Animal rights Animal welfare Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Biomedical research Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Great Ape research ban International trade in primates Controversial experiments Brown Dog affair Britches Cambridge University primates Pit of despair Silver Spring monkeys Unnecessary Fuss Companies Charles River Laboratories, Inc. Covance Harlan Huntingdon Life Sciences Laboratory animal suppliers in the United Kingdom Nafovanny Shamrock Farm Groups/campaigns Americans for Medical Progress American Association for Laboratory Animal Science American Association for the Advancement of Science Boyd Group British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Dr Hadwen Trust Foundation For Biomedical Research National Anti-Vivisection Society New England Anti-Vivisection Society People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ALF Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Primate Freedom Project Pro-Test SPEAK Research Defence Society Speaking of Research SHAC Stop Sequani Animal Testing Understanding Animal Research Writers/activists Colin Blakemore Carl Cohen Gill Langley Ingrid Newkirk Neal Barnard Jerry Vlasak Simon Festing Tipu Aziz Categories Animal testing Animal rights