Michael Balls

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Michael Balls is a British zoologist and professor emeritus of medical cell biology at Nottingham University. He is best known for his work on laboratory animal welfare and alternatives to animal testing.

[edit] Biography

Balls attained his first degree in Zoology from Oxford University, and did his PhD in Switzerland. He then lectured in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia. In 1975, he moved to the University of Nottingham Medical School, as a senior lecturer in the Department of Human Morphology. He became Reader in Medical Cell Biology in 1985, and was promoted to Professor of Medical Cell Biology in 1990. Since 1995, he has been an Emeritus Professor of that University.

Professor Balls became a Trustee of FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) in 1979, and has been Chairman of the Trustees since 1981 and Editor of ATLA (Alternatives to Laboratory Animals) since 1983.

He acted as an adviser to the British government during the drafting and passage of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and, from 1987-1995, was a founder member of the Animal Procedures Committee, which advises the Home Secretary on all matters related to animal experimentation.

In 1993, Professor Balls became the first Head of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods. He retired from this position in 2002.

In 1986, Professor Balls was given the first Marchig Animal Welfare Award of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, and in 1994 he was presented with the fourth Russell & Burch Award of The Humane Society of the United States, for his contributions to the advancement of alternative methods. In 1997, he won the fourth SmithKline Beecham Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize for outstanding contributions to the welfare of laboratory animals. In 1999 he was awarded the Michael Kay Award of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in recognition of services to European animal welfare. In 2002, Professor Balls was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

He is the father of Ed Balls, the United Kingdom's first Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

[edit] External links

• Biography (from which this page was started) from the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Inc., for which Balls is a Scientific Advisor.
• European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods