§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain" for(a) 1993 and (b) 1994 will be published.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThe Command Paper "Statistics of Scientific Procedures performed on living animals,530W Great Britain, 1993" is to be published on 26 January. The next similar Command Paper, containing information relating to scientific procedures started in 1994, is expected to be published towards the end of July 1995.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will define the categories of experiments on living animals which would fall within the most severe classification; how many applications for licensed experiments for(a) medical and (b) non-medical were under the most severe classifications; and how many applications for experiments in each security category were made in 1993.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerScientific procedures are regarded as being of substantial severity if they result in a major departure from the animal's usual state of health or well-being. These are likely to include acute toxicity procedures where significant morbidity or death is the end point, some efficacy tests of antimicrobial agents and vaccines, some models of disease, and major surgery where significant post-operative suffering may result.
In 1993, project licence applications in each severity category were submitted: mild, 614; moderate, 743; substantial, 21; unclassified, terminally anaesthetised or decerebrated animals, nine.
Fourteen of the licences assessed as of overall substantial severity were relevant to human medicine, one to veterinary medicine and six to non-medical topics.