§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he plans to implement European Directive 86/609/EEC. [87853]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 already implements, and in several ways, exceeds European Directive 86/609/EEC.
The most important ways in which the Act exceeds the Directive are:
the Directive requires, at Article 12, that either the experiments themselves or the details of the person conducting such experiments be notified in advance. The 1986 Act requires both that the programme of work be authorised by a project licence and that the individuals carrying out the procedures hold personal licences;Article 12 of the Directive also requires that for experiments that might cause severe and prolonged pain, the authority must be satisfied that the experiment is of sufficient importance for meeting the essential needs of man or animal. Section 5(4) of the 1986 Act requires that, for all applications for project licences, the likely adverse effects on the animal concerned be weighed against the benefits likely to occur; andthe 1986 Act regulates the production and breeding of genetically modified animals, and harmful mutants as well as their use in scientific procedures. The Directive only covers their use in scientific procedures.