§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments on living animals performed by person licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, for each of the years 1971, 1972 and 1973, were for the testing of household detergent, for food additives and for testing pharmaceutical preparations.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe number of experiments carried out for the standardisation of sera, vaccines or drugs was 1,300,844 in 1971 and 1,072,808 in 1972. Figures for 1973 are not yet available. Information is not available about experiments to test household detergents or food additives.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what precautions are taken to ensure that animals subjected to experimental surgery or other traumatising interference are kept free of pain in the post-operative period.
§ Dr. SummerskillWhere an experiment under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 is carried out without anaesthetics or where an animal in an experiment is not killed before it recovers from the influence of anaesthesia, the conditions of a licence under the Act require that if the animal at any time during such an experiment is found to be suffering pain which is either severe or is likely to endure, and if the main result of the experiment has been attained, the animal shall forthwith be painlessly killed; that if the animal at any time during such an166W experiment is found to be suffering severe pain which is likely to endure, it shall forthwith be painlessly killed; and that if the animal appears to an inspector appointed under the Act to be suffering considerable pain and if he directs that it be destroyed, it shall forthwith be painlessly killed.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments on living animals, involving experimental surgery or other traumatising procedures were performed in Crown establishments not subject to the 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act during the years 1971, 1972, and 1973.
§ Dr. SummerskillExperiments in Crown establishments are included in the Return of Experiments performed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, 'out the information requested is not separately available.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many behavioural experiments upon living animals were performed during each of the years 1971, 1972, and 1973 without a licence under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876.
§ Dr. SummerskillSuch information as is available relates only to experiments carried out under the Act. The Act makes it illegal to carry out any experiment calculated to give pain except under the restrictions it imposes.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many retrospective licences under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 were issued during the years 1971, 1972, and 1973.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn 1971 and 1972, one and two respectively. The figure for 1973 is not yet available.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 for each of the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 were for strictly medical purposes.
§ Dr. SummerskillAll experiments under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 must be performed with a view to the 167W advancement by new discovery of physiological knowledge or of knowledge which will be useful in saving or prolonging life or alleviating suffering. Within this definition the figures are not subdivided so that experiments for "medical purposes" can be identified.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 for each of the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 were for behavioural research;
(2) how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 for each of the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 were for the testing of herbicides;
(3) what proportions of the 5 million experiments on living animals in the years 1971. 1972 and 1973 respectively were routine poisons-testing, a poison being defined as a substance which when administered to an animal causes damage to health;
(4) how many licensees under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 have university qualifications relevant to the subject of research.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, for each of the years 1971, 1972, and 1973, were for the testing of cosmetics and toiletries;
(2) how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, for each of the years 1971, 1972, and 1973, were for behavioural research;
(3) how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, for each of the years 1971, 1972 and 1973, were for the testing of industrial chemicals;
(4) how many licensees under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 are undergraduate students.
(5) what proportion of all toxicity testing in connection with experiments on living animals consists of the L.D. 50 procedure.
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§ Dr. SummerskillThis information is not available.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments on living animals performed by persons licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 during the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 were performed upon animals without general anaesthesia sufficient to cause total unconsciousness.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn 1971 and 1972, 4,849,119 and 4,573,033 respectively. Figures for 1973 are not yet available.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for a licence or licences under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 have been refused within the past five years; and on what grounds.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo statistics are kept of persons refused a licence.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of poison-testing on live animals is mandatory.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn 1972 about one-fifth of all experiments under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 were mandatory tests for the standardisation of sera. vaccines or drugs.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many licensees under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 are medically qualified.
§ Dr. SummerskillThis information is not readily available and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many surgical operations or other traumatising procedures were performed upon living animals during the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 other than in the course of veterinary diagnosis or treatment by persons not licensed by the Home Office under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876.
§ Dr. SummerskillIn 1971 one person and in 1972 two persons carried out procedures for which a licence was required but before the application, which had been made to the Home Office, for the 169W relevant licences had been granted. In all three cases licences were subsequently granted. Similar information for 1973 is not yet available.