Full article see  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jul/21/animal.testing

"Prof Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, the former head of the Medical Research Council, said that there was now a "substantially different climate" of public opinion about animal research compared with five years ago. He wants to see a less shrill and more constructive debate on the issue and is trying to foster contact between scientists and groups such as the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection that oppose animal testing. "In terms of the more nuanced debate I've talked about before, if ever we are going to do that now is the time," he said. He no longer works with live animals himself."