September 2002 News

HSUS Presents Russell & Burch Award to David Morton

September 26, 2002

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) honored Dr. David Morton with its Russell & Burch Award for 2002. The award is given every three years to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of alternative methods -- those that can replace or reduce the use of animals in specific procedures, or refine procedures so that animals experience less pain or suffering -- in biomedical research, testing, or higher education.

Morton, a professor and veterinarian at the University of Birmingham in England, was recognized for his extensive work in the development and promotion of refinement techniques that minimize pain and distress in research animals. He has been one of the world's leading figures in the field of refinement since the 1980s.

Morton developed scoring systems for assessing the impact of experimental procedures on the welfare of laboratory animals. These systems not only provide an overall measure of the impact of experiments in terms of animal suffering and harm, but they also are used to identify early clinical signs that reliably predict experimental outcomes, such as death. Once identified, these early signs (e.g., changes in body temperature) can often be substituted for the standard endpoints. This process thereby allows the termination of experiments before the onset of severe pain, distress, or death and spares the animals the associated suffering. Such refinements have come to be known as "humane endpoints", a field that Morton pioneered.

HSUS presented Morton with the award at the recent World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences in New Orleans, Louisiana. The award, which carries a $5,000 prize, is named in honor of William M. Russell and Rex L. Burch, the scientists who formulated the Three Rs approach of replacement, reduction, and refinement.