HC Deb 20 December 1991 vol 201 cc344-6W
Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received over increases in the number of tests on live animals carried out in respect of food additives.

Mrs. Rumbold

We are not aware of any such representations.

Ms. Hoey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he will take to reduce the use of animals in experiments for food additive tests.

Miss Rumbold

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is not one of the Ministers responsible for the national and international regulations under which the safety testing of food additives are required. His responsibility is for controlling the conduct of scientific procedures on living animals. We have no plans to refuse licences where my right hon. Friend is satisfied that the work is justified under section 5 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inspectors he employs to monitor tests on live animals; whether he has received representations to increase this number; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

There were 20 members of the Home Office animals (scientific procedures) inspectorate on 19 December. The Home Office receives representations from time to time to increase the number of inspectors, but I am satisfied that the present strength of the inspectorate is adequate.

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received urging the amendment of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; and whether he proposes any amendment or administrative action to end or reduce tests on live animals(a) for cosmetics and (b) for drugs similar to those already on the market.

Mrs. Rumbold

The Home Office receives a large volume of correspondence on a wide range of animal procedures matters, part of which will contain particular or general suggestions for changes to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 or the way in which it is administered.

Provided that the requirements of the 1986 Act are fulfilled, my right hon. Friend will continue to grant under section 5 project licences authorising particular programmes of work involving living animals. The modification of drugs to improve their efficacy or reduce their unwanted side effects is an important route of scientific and therapeutic advance. Any application for a project licence which clearly sought to develop a drug already on the market would not, however, be granted. The use of animals in the safety testing of cosmetics accounted for less than one quarter of a per cent. of all animal tests carried out in this country in 1990. Reductions in the number of tests on animals for whatever purpose depend heavily on scientific advances in the development of acceptable alternatives, their validation, and their acceptance by regulatory bodies.

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what change there has been, since 1 January 1991, in his policy of counting the number of LD50 force feeding tasks on live animals; and what were the numbers of such tests in each of the last five years;

(2) what representations he has received over (a) recent increases in the LD50 force feeding test on live animals and (b) the utility and possibility of replacement of this test; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

Substances administered in acute toxicity tests are not always given by means of a tube inserted into the stomach. The statistics do not differentiate between routes of administration.

There has been encouraging progress in further reducing the need for formal LD50 tests. As a result of a British initiative led by the Department of Health and supported and part funded by the Home Office, a testing method which does not rely on lethality as an end point has been developed, validated and accepted by international regulatory bodies as a replacement of the LD50 test in many areas of toxicity testing. We understand that the new test will be incorporated into OECD guidelines next year.

There has been no change since 1 January 1991 in the counting of LD50 tests. However, it is not possible to identify these tests separately in the statistics because they are included in the wider group of acute and subacute quantitative whole body lethal toxicity tests. The 1990 figures for this group are given in columns (8) and (9) of table 14 of "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 1990" (Cm 1574), a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The descriptions of the classifications of toxicity tests were amended slightly for clarification in the 1990 statistics which means that this group now includes tests previously recorded in other columns of the tables. Taking all acute and subacute whole body toxicity tests together gives comparable figures for Great Britain as follows:

Thousands of procedures
Acute and subacute whole body toxicity tests 1987 1988 1989 1990
Lethal 234 233 176 206
Non-Lethal 166 148 143 139
All 400 381 319 345

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what figures he has for each of the last three years of the number bred of(a) animals with a harmful genetic defect or (b) transgenic animals; and whether he will make a statement on trends indicated by these figures.

Mrs. Rumbold

The number of scientific procedures started in 1990 using animals bred with harmful genetic defects (including transgenic animals as a separate category) is given in table 15 of "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 1990" (Cm 1574), a copy of which is in the Library. As explained in paragraph 19 of the introductory notes and paragraph 24(m) of the Commentary in the Command Paper, there are no comparable figures for earlier years.