§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to ban the Draize test used to determine irritancy of products; and if he will make a statement. [145380]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienFollowing the Government's announcement of a ban on the testing of cosmetic products and ingredients, the Draize eye safety test is no longer used for that purpose. However, national and international regulatory bodies requite that non-cosmetic products, ingredients and chemicals are tested to ensure that they are safe (for humans, other animals and the environment) during manufacture, transport and use.
The Draize test is a safety test required for regulatory risk assessments of chemicals and a range of manufactured products which may be deliberately or accidentally brought into contact with the eyes. An example of this would be preparations used in medical eye drops.
Some non-animal alternatives to the Draize eye test are available for some screening purposes. However, these can be used only for a limited range of test materials.
The Home Office has published guidance and minimum severity protocols for this procedure. Such animal testing takes place only when in vitro screening tests have been used to identify, classify and eliminate materials with obvious irritant potential. Careful consideration is given to all available information on a substance to avoid testing of substances likely to produce severe effects on test animals. In this regard the Draize eye test is not carried out on strongly acid or alkaline substances or on substances which have demonstrated severe adverse skin effects in dermal tests or on substances which have demonstrated potential corrosive effects or severe irritancy in the alternative tests currently available.
This country has taken, and continues to take, a leading role in Europe in encouraging the use of alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used and refine the procedures to minimise pain and suffering. To this end the Home Office has funded work conducted by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), but it has been concluded that the currently available alternatives to the Draize test have significant limitations and cannot replace live animal use at this stage.