§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 24 March 1999, Official Report, columns 307–08, if he will list, by case, the experiments that have been performed on goats at the Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory in each of the last 12 months. [81633]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 23 April 1999:
I have been asked to reply to your question about the former Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory (RNPL) which is now part of the Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) Sector of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).
You asked for details, by case, of the experiments, involving goats that have been carried out in each of the last 12 months. All the work is aimed at reducing the risk of serious decompression illness in man following the evacuation of a sunken submarine. Prior to being used in an experiment, goats are familiarised with the experimental procedures and the vessels in which trials will take place. All experiments involve an exposure to raised pressure where the breathing gas is either air or an atmosphere that simulates a possible atmosphere that could be present on a disabled submarine, such as elevated carbon dioxide.
At the end of the exposure to raised pressure the goats are returned to normorbaric pressure, either through decompression to surface, simulating rescue from a distressed submarine (rescue type exposure), or through a simulated submarine escape at the compression and decompression rates to which men have been exposed (escape type exposure). Oxygen breathing is known to decrease the risk of decompression illness and limited oxygen breathing has been used in some initial studies to assess the magnitude of the potential benefit.
The goats are closely monitored for several hours after the experiment for signs of decompression illness. Concentration of various blood constituents may be monitored. A small number of animals have had minor surgery to reduce the trauma or stress involved in collecting an arterial blood sample. In addition the animals may be sedated to further reduce their discomfort. Some goats have also been sedated prior to magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in order to detect sub-clinical effects of repeat pressure exposures.
The details of the experiments over the last 12 months are as follows:
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Month Number of goats Experiment type April 1999 0 — March 1999 18 Magnetic Resonance Imaging February 1999 18 Magnetic Resonance Imaging January 1999 8 Magnetic Resonance Imaging January 1999 9 Rescue type exposure, decompression to surface December 1998 4 Escape type exposure, arterial blood samples taken November 1998 16 Escape type exposure October 1998 26 Escape type exposure September 1998 12 Oxygen breathing prior to surfacing; Escape type exposure September 1998 5 Rescue type exposure, decompression to surface August 1998 12 Oxygen breathing prior to surfacing; Escape type exposure August 1998 5 Rescue type exposure, straight decompression to surface July 1998 0 — June 1998 0 — May 1998 0 — In addition to these experiments, the following familiarisation and acquaint procedures were carried out:
- June 1998: 6 Goats
- August 1998: 7 Goats
- March 1999: 9 Goats
I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 24 March 1999,Official Report, columns 307–08, how many goats have died in experiments at the Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory in each of the last 12 months. [81634]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 23 April 1999:
I have been asked to reply to your question about the former Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory (RNPL) which is now part of the Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) Sector of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).
You asked for details about the number of goats that have died in experiments in the last 12 months in DERA's research programme to determine the pressure and time limits for the safe escape of Navy personnel from a sunken submarine.
Animals that demonstrate mild or moderate symptoms of decompression illness during any experiment are treated in the same way as humans, with oxygen and recompression therapy. Where sympton are such that recompression therapy would be unlikely to effect a complete recovery, the animal is humanely killed. The number of goats humanely killed in each of the last 12 months is as follows:
721W
Year/month Number of goats humanely killed at end of experiment 1999 April 0 March 0 February 0 January 9 1998 December 2 November 4 October 0
Year/month Number of goats humanely killed at end of experiment September 2 August 1 July 0 June 0 May 0
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 24 March 1999, Official Report, columns 307–08, how many goats have been injured before undergoing experiments at the Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory in the last 12 months; and what anaesthetics are administered to goats before experiments take place. [81635]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 23 April 1999:
I have been asked to reply to your question about the former Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory (RNPL) which is now part of the Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) Sector of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).
You asked for details about the treatment of the goats used in DERA's research programme to determine the pressure and time limits for the safe escape of Navy personnel from a sunken submarine.
No goats are injured before undergoing experiments at DERA's CHS.
With regard to the anaesthetics used on the goats, prior to magnetic resonance imaging where the goats have to be kept absolutely still, they are sedated with a combination of the sedative, Domitor and the analgesic Torbugesic. Magnetic resonance imaging is not a painful process but the analgesic brings about a more profound level of sedation when combined with Domitor. Lignocaine is used as a local anaesthetic prior to arterial cannulation for blood sampling.
General anaesthesia is not used on the goats in the DERA research programme itself. However, animals prepared surgically for arterial blood sampling receive halothane/oxygen/nitrous oxide.
I hope this information is helpful.