Animal Testing (Hansard, 18 May 1992)

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to encourage organisations currently using live animals to move to humane medical testing techniques; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Charles Wardle
The controls of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 already require that before any project licence is granted, the applicant must show that he or she has considered the possiblity of using alternatives not involving living animals for any of the procedures. The strict controls of the Act also require that laboratory animals are properly cared for and that suffering is minimised. The use of living animals in biomedical research has been declining for many years and the Act has given further impetus to this encouraging trend.
In addition, the Home Office funds research into ways of reducing, refining or replacing the use of living animals in scientific procedures.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake a review of legislation controlling the use of live animals in testing non-medical products and procedures in United Kingdom laboratories.

§ Mr. Charles Wardle
The system of controls established by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 on the use of living animals in research for whatever purpose is working well. The effectiveness of the controls is kept under constant review, both by the Home Office and its inspectorate, and the independent statutory Animal Procedures Committee.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the number of experiments licensed by the Home Office on live animals over the last five years listed under the purpose for which the experiment was conducted.

§ Mr. Charles Wardle
Project licences issued by the Home Office authorise whole programmes of research10W which may involve a number of procedures carried out experimental purposes. The numbers of project licences granted by the Home Office are included in the annual reports of the Animal Procedures Committee. The number and purposes of individual procedures started each year can be found in the annual publication "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals: Great Britain". Copies of these publications are in the Library of the House.