§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made in reducing the replication of animal experiments already undertaken. [64364]
§ Mr. George HowarthI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 19 January 1998,official report, column 387. Whilst some replication of experiments is needed to ensure the reliability of previous research, the Inspectorate will not recommend that a licence be granted unless there are good reasons for replicating work already undertaken.
In regulatory toxicology, we are currently encouraging regulatory authorities and testers to make full use of reduction, refinement and replacement alternatives, including the possibility of data sharing, in order to reduce the need for animal tests.
In the wider context, all establishments will be required to maintain ethical review processes from 1 April. One of the roles of these processes will be to review proposed and ongoing work to ensure it is fully justified.