§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what safeguards the Government have in place to ensure the well-being of genetically modified animals being produced and maintained for experiments; and if he will make a statement; [41983]
(2) what procedures are in place to regulate the transgenesis process used to create genetically modified animals; and if he will make a statement; [41982]
(3) what (a) percentage and (b) proportion of genetically modified animals, which were killed during experiments, were classed as failures in those experiments in each year since 1987; [41981]
(4) if he will amend the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to provide greater protection for genetically modified animals. [41980]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 11 March 2002]The production, maintenance and use of genetically modified animals for experimental and other scientific purposes, once they are beyond a specified stage in their foetal, larval or embryonic forms, are controlled under the terms of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
For a decision to be made on whether and on what terms a licence might be granted to produce, breed or use genetically modified animals, the 1986 Act requires the same considerations to be taken into account as for genetically normal animals. These are that the likely benefits of the programme are weighed against the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned (the cost/benefit assessment), and that there are no alternatives which either replace animal use entirely, reduce the number of animals needed or refine the procedures to minimise pain and suffering (3Rs). Licence applicants must also demonstrate that the procedures are for a permitted purpose and are likely to achieve the stated objectives.
It is not always possible to predict the likely welfare effects of novel genetic modifications. However, project licence authorities are framed to permit only apparently healthy genetically modified animals to be produced or maintained unless, and exceptionally, a specific scientific justification is made and accepted for the production of genetically modified animals whose welfare is expected to be compromised.
977WDetailed codes of practice, produced under authority of the 1986 Act and laid before Parliament, set the minimum standards of housing and care for all animals produced and used in regulated procedures. Compliance with these standards is a condition of project licences, and is monitored by the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate.
The Government are satisfied that the 1986 Act, and related guidance and codes of practice, adequately caters for the welfare of transgenic/genetically modified animals used in scientific procedures, and that there is no need in that respect to amend it to provide for separate or additional controls.
Since 1988 annual statistics published by the Home Office have contained information on the overall use of genetically modified animals in scientific procedures. The detail provided has increased over the years, and the latest publication entitled "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2000" (Cm 5344) contains a great deal of related data (copies are available in the Library). The annual statistics do not record technical failures, and there is no other centrally held data on that. Information on the success rate of the techniques used is, however, widely published in scientific literature.