Russell and Burch introduced the concept of the Three Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) in the scientific community and provided a blueprint for combining animal welfare considerations and quality of research.

[1] His father, Sir Frederick Stratten Russell, was the Director of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

In the UK the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME), established in 1969, was among the first to recognize the importance of the Three Rs concept.

He was not aware of the growing impact of the book until the early nineties, when Marty Stephens, vice-president of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), took the initiative to institute the Russell and Burch Award[5] for advancement of the Three Rs in science and Alan Goldberg, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), invited Bill and his wife Claire to participate as guests of honour in the First World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Baltimore.

Bill announced the next World Congress in Utrecht with a song, paraphrasing Cole Porter's "Another Op'nin, Another Show" from the musical Kiss Me, Kate.

He also published a science fiction novel The Barber of Aldebaran (1995), wrote the introduction to The Myths of Greece and Rome (2000) and was a past president of the Folklore Society (and a regular contributor to their newsletter).

[8] In 2004, in response to a House of Lords Select Committee report informed by Russell's work, the UK launched the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research NC3Rs.