§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) dogs and (b) rhesus monkeys have been used for testing for the effects of nerve gas at Porton Down over the most recent period of 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LeeIt is riot our practice to make available detailed information on the usage of particular species in animal experiments at the chemical defence establishment Porton Down, as to do so could in many cases enable an informed observer to gain a useful insight into the scope and direction of CDE's work to the detriment of national security.
The total number of experiments subject to the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 carried out at CDE in 1985 was 6,600, a decrease of 4,300 on 1984. The vast majority of these experiments involved mice, rats and guinea pigs.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Defence why LD-50 tests are considered necessary for nerve gas experiments on dogs and rhesus monkeys at Porton Down: and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. LeeAnimal experiments involving nerve agents that might be used against our service men are intended to determine the toxicity of those agents and to assess the efficiency and safety of possible antidotes. Formal LD-50 tests are not conducted on rhesus monkeys or dogs for this purpose. In order to minimise the use of animals an estimate of lethal toxicity is derived from tests en as small a number of rhesus monkeys as possible.