"The Feldberg Inquiry"

HC Deb 17 June 1991 vol 193 cc21-2W

Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reasons his Department's inspectors gave for persuading Professor Feldberg to use rabbits rather than cats for the experiments detailed in the Medical Research Council report "The Feldberg Inquiry".

Mrs. Rumbold

Section 5(6) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires special justification for the use of cats, dogs, primates and equidae. Following implementation of the Act, it became standard practice for inspectors to require research workers who were using cats to change, whenever possible, to alternative species. As a result, during the summer of 1989, when Professor Feldberg's research reached a stage when his use of cats was no longer considered essential, the inspector urged Professor Feldberg to change to rabbits, so that his authority to work on cats could be withdrawn.

Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the experiments detailed in Medical Research Council report "The Feldberg Inquiry" were justified under section 5(4) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Mrs. Rumbold

In September 1989, Professor Feldberg sought the inspector's permission for a change to his project licence in connection with research he was undertaking into the regulation of blood sugar. He wished to replace a procedure involving the injection of drugs into the brain with one which he considered could produce a similar effect but involved the heating of the abdomen of the rabbit.

Contrary to the comments made in the Medical Research Council's report, the licence amendment would not have been granted unless the adverse effects had been weighed against the potential benefit of the work, as required by section 5 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The change proposed involved replacing a procedure with a less invasive technique. The inspector's judgment that the proposed change to Professor Feldberg's work was justifiable was an opinion confirmed some months later by two of the three independent experts consulted by the Medical Research Council.