§ Sir R. GOWERasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that a Select Committee of this House has recognised 276,594 signatures to the petition recently presented praying that experiments on dogs should be prohibited; whether it is his intention to introduce legislation to give effect to the prayer; and whether he has any statement to make on the subject matter of the prayer?
§ Sir J. GILMOURA copy of the petition from the Canine Defence League,2584W which I am informed had 276,594 signatures appended, has been forwarded to the Home Office by the Select Committee on Public Petitions. In this, as in all other matters, the Government must be guided by considerations of the general interest, and having regard to the reasoned opinion expressed in the memorandum of the Medical Research Council presented to Parliament in 1927, and to the valuable results in the prevention and treatment of canine and human diseases which have been achieved by means of experiments on dogs, I am not prepared to introduce legislation on this subject.