§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to ban experiments on living animals, where these experiments are used for testing commercial products, such as cosmetic products.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo. It would not be right to deprive the public of the safeguards which these experiments are designed to afford, but it is the Government's view that alternative methods of experiment should be developed wherever possible.
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§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments took place on live animals in 1977; for what purposes the experiments were performed and if he will list them in the Official Report; how many Home Office licensed experimenters performed these experiments and what is the total number of experimenters at the latest available date; and how often licensed experimenters are checked or replaced.
§ Dr. SummerskillStatistics of experiments performed on living animals in Great Britain during 1977 under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 will be published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in Command Paper Cmnd. 7333 when the present industrial action at HMSO is over. In 1976, there were 18,666 licensees of whom 11,485 carried out experiments. The Cruelty to Animals Inspectorate made 6,086 visits in 1976, 5,861 being to registered laboratories, mostly without previous notice. The reference to replacement of experimenters is not understood.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of experiments performed on animals in each year from 1876 to the latest available date.
§ Dr. SummerskillFigures are not available for 1876 and 1877; those for 1878 to 1961 are given in the following table; those for 1962 to 1976 are to be found in "Experiments on Living Animals"—House of Commons Paper No. 1 of 1977–78 Session—Table 1, page 9.
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Experiments performed in Great Britain on living animals under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876. 1878–1961 Year No. of Experiments(1) 1878 481 1879 270 1880 311 1881 270 1882 406 1883 535 1884 441 1885 800 1886 1,095 1887 1,220 1888 1,069 1889 1,417 1890 2,102 1891 2,661 1892 3,960 866W
1893 4,046 1894 3,104 1895 4,679 1896 7,500 1897 8,822 1898 9,151 1899 8,469 1900 10,839 1901 11,645 1902 14,906 1903 19,084 1904 32,562 1905 37,935 1906 46,073 1907 73,374 1908 88,634 1909 86,277 1910 95,731 1911 95,203 1912 83,599 1913 88,158 1914 87,253 1915 70,573 1916 66,043 1917 55,542 1918 77,610 1919 62,877 1920 70,367 1921 75,262 1922 97,863 1923 134,783 1924 177,815 1925 209,014 1926 266,478 1927 293,302 1928 315,891 1929 403,141 1930 450,822 1931 613,562 1932 589,154 1933 603,240 1934 697,436 1935 736,716 1936 822,167 1937 918,960 1938 958,761 1939 954,691 1940 889,677 1941 764,013 1942 932,448 1943 1,170,412 1944 1,323,983 1945 1,175,696 1946 1,410,473 1947 1,287,341 1948 1,530,417 1949 1,709,683 1950 1,779,215 1951 1,919,424 1952 2,117,912 1953 2,195,958 1954 2,433,487 1955 2,476,201 1956 2,790,940 1957 2,905,460 1958 3,245,990 1959 3,493,022 1960 3,701,187 1961 3,896,581 (1) Each experiment on an animal is counted as one experiment, and an experiment involving a number of animals is counted once for each animal experimented upon.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current cost of experiments on live animals; if alternatives are being used wherever possible; and whether the search for alternatives is being pursued by the Government.
§ Dr. SummerskillInformation on the total cost of experiments on living animals is not available. The Government arc drawing the attention of licence holders under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 to the desirability of using alternative methods wherever practicable and is considering what further action may be possible.