HC Deb 23 June 1981 vol 7 c68W
Miss Joan Lestor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether steps are now being taken to find alternatives to the LD 50 test which the Advisory Committee on the Administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1976 was asked to investigate in 1977.

Mr. Raison

The advisory committee, which reported on this test in 1979, said thatat the present time for the proper safety evaluation of new substances some acute and chronic toxicity tests must be carried out on whole live animals and recommended that such tests should be allowed to continue. This Department has no responsibility for initiating steps to find alternatives to the LD 50 test; but all licensees under the Act are regularly sent a Government notice urging them to give thought to the possibilities of developing new alternatives.