§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if tobacco smoke is used as an agent in research on animals under the Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986; and if he will make a statement. [119718]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Government stand firmly by their ban on the testing of tobacco products announced in November 1997. There will be no approval for any such tests.
Two recently approved applications are for programmes that do not test the effects of tobacco smoke, which are already widely known, but enable the development of treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema which seriously debilitate many people. These health problems derive mainly from smoking, including passive smoking, as well as occupation-related lung diseases, such as those caused by the inhalation of coal dust. Tobacco smoke is the only test material to model reliably the effects that will enable a better understanding of the disease processes and improved medical treatments. The licensed research programmes are to investigate medical treatments, not the safety of tobacco products.
The Inspectorate and the Animal Procedures Committee have advised that the licences are justifiable and that the benefits to man and animals would outweigh the costs to the animals involved. As with all project licence applications, these two licences were issued only after a full and careful assessment including whether there were alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals needed or refine the experimental design to minimise suffering.