§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up a departmental inquiry into the use of animals for experimental purposes and to consider the moral, ethical and scientific justification of the large-scale use of animals for research.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo. Two Royal Commissions have already considered the use of living animals in experiments generally.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take immediate steps to ban the use of experiments on animals where alternative methods exist.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo. We have no power under the relevant legislation to impose a ban of the kind proposed, which would in any event be impracticable to operate. We understand, however, that alternative methods are generally preferred where they are of proven reliability.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy towards the use of animals for experiments, many of which cause great pain and suffering and have no relevance to the treatment or prevention of disease.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 limits the experiments liable to cause pain which may lawfully be performed on a living animal to those directed to the advancement by new discovery of physiological knowledge or of 443W knowledge which will be useful for saving or prolonging life or alleviating suffering. My right hon. Friend's policy, like that of successive Home Secretaries, has been to prohibit avoidable or excessive pain and to restrict any other pain to a minimum. To this end, experiments must either be performed under an anaesthetic sufficient to prevent the animal feeling pain or must comply with conditions which limit the operational procedures to those no more severe than a simple inoculation or superficial venesection and which require that no animal under experiment should be allowed to suffer severe pain that is likely to endure, or avoidable pain of any kind.