FRAME - reflections on the future and challenges to success.

FRAME is 40 years of age and has contributed much to reasoned debate on the need to use animals in responsible scientific enquiry. It has done this through the promotion of good science as best practice, as well as promotion of the Three Rs of Reduction, Refinement and Replacement of animal experimentation. However, unless the debate widens to question society at large over its attitudes to personal risk, to accepting responsibility rather than apportioning blame, and to its simplistic adoption of regulation as the panacea, we could see the pursuit of the Three Rs degenerate into a formulaic process, leading to imperfect animal models being replaced by imperfect alternatives which would not serve to improve our science. We must not lose sight of the ultimate goal of conducting good science without the need to use animals.