§ Mr. Boyesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek powers to prohibit the use of animals in tobacco and alcohol research.
§ Mr. MellorNo. Work related to tobacco and alcohol has implications for pharmacological and medical research which go beyond the needs of those who actually drink and smoke; and its continuance, subject to proper controls, is necessary for those purposes.
There is very little research into tobacco and its substitutes — only 2,659 experiments in 1983 which made it the smallest research category. Work on alcohol is indistinguishable from other medical research. As it is one of our major medical and social problems it would be difficult to stop it on the grounds of triviality; and, like tobacco, it has consequences for those who do not consume it which undermines the argument that its ills are entirely self-induced and should not be mitigated at the expense of living animals.
§ Mr. Boyesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek powers to prohibit the use of animals to test cosmetics and toiletries.
§ Mr. MellorNo. The Government have a duty to comply with the provisions of EC directives and to ensure that safe products are marketed. The number of cosmetics and toiletries tests represents less than half of 1 per cent. of all those performed, and has declined steadily in recent years. We welcome that decline. Under the new legislation proposed in the White Paper "Scientific Procedures of Living Animals" (Cmnd. 8883), however, all applications for project licences to test cosmetics and toiletries will automatically be referred to the proposed Animal Procedures Committee for advice as to whether the tests should be permitted.