HC Deb 22 June 1959 vol 607 c91W
64. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Minister of Supply how many animals, and of what kinds, have been experimented on at the Microbiological Research Station at Porton in the past year; and how many have died or received injury after having been experimented upon with the germs of plague, typhus, small pox, influenza, and other contagious diseases, respectively.

Mr. Aubrey Jones

The following numbers and types of animals have been used in experiments under the provisions of the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, at the Microbiological Research Establishment.

Over the past year Over the past six months
85,566 mice 41,913mice
7,695 guinea pigs 2,774 guinea pigs
2,045 rabbits 1,013 rabbits
7,960 chicks 528 fowl
720 fowl 9 rats
9 rats

It would be a breach of security to disclose in detail the scale of effort deployed to counter various microbiological agents.