to try and explain to the public why we do medical research on animals and why it's still necessary. To muddy the waters by bringing back an issue of using animals for something that’s not actually approved in the UK is perhaps unfortunate." Simon Festing, director of the pro-animal experimentation lobby group Research Defence Society said of Aziz: "He's not involved in cosmetic testing himself, [Britain's] not involved in cosmetic testing, it's been banned here. There's no movement from the scientific community or the cosmetics industry to have it brought back in. I can't see it being particularly relevant apart from being his personal view." Felix An animal rights campaign has formed around a seven-year-old macaque monkey that Aziz has used in his research. Named Felix by Aziz himself, he is one of 100 purpose-bred monkeys used in animal experiments by Oxford University. Felix was featured in a November 2006 BBC documentary about Aziz's work, "Monkeys, Rats and Me". The monkey was shown being "shaped", that is, being encouraged to perform certain tasks by having food and water withheld, in advance of having the symptoms of Parkinson's disease induced. Electrodes were implanted in his brain to test the effects of deep brain stimulation on the Parkinsonian symptoms and on his ability to perform the tasks. He will be destroyed at the end of the experiment, which could continue for several years. Since the BBC documentary aired, SPEAK, a British animal rights campaign formed in 2002, has used the "Fight for Felix" as a public focus of their efforts to halt the construction of a new £20 million animal-testing facility in South Park Road, Oxford Awards and nominations In January 2013, Aziz was nominated for the Service to Medicine award at the British Muslim Awards. See also British Bangladeshi List of British Bangladeshis John Stein (Professor of Physiology) Kevin Warwick References External links 1956 births Living people Bangladeshi Muslims British Muslims Bangladeshi emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British neurosurgeons Alumni of University College London Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Physicians of the John Radcliffe Hospital 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis