§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure the Animal Procedures Committee is giving full consideration to independent objections to the application for a project licence from Imutran before deciding whether to issue such a licence. [31690]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe Animal Procedures Committee does not issue licences, but it can advise the Secretary of State on matters relating to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
We and the Committee are well aware of objections to xenotransplantation and related research using protected animals. The Committee itself contains a wide spread of 372W opinion on this subject and two of its members sat on the Department of Health committee, chaired by Professor Kennedy, on the ethics of xenotransplantation.
The Home Office has also considered the views expressed in a report entitled "Animal-to-human organ transplants: A medical and legal perspective" which was recently submitted by Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine. Xenotransplantation Concern has also recently contacted the Home Office. Officials have invited the organisation to submit its concerns in writing.
The Animal Procedures Committee considered at its January meeting Imutran's application to continue an existing, licensed programme of work. It recommended, inter alia, that before deciding whether to grant the licence the Secretary of State should consult with the Department of Health and the United Kingdom Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority on the issues of the transmission of retro-viruses from pigs to humans and on whether clinical xenotransplantation was still perceived as a likely eventual outcome of the ongoing research. A final decision on Imutran's application will not be made until we have received their reply.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 January 1998,Official Report, column 387, what percentage of procedures for animal testing approved by his Department led to published research in each of the last 10 years. [31748]
§ Mr. George HowarthRecords containing this information are not kept centrally.