Animal Experimentation
Debate between Roger Williams and David Amess(13 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Amess
Yes, I agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is a question of balance, but I hope to prove that animal experimentation is completely unnecessary and that we can achieve the same results through different methods.
There is a variation of response within humans—African Americans are more susceptible to lung cancer than Caucasians—so how can we expect animals to be reliable models?
Using animals as human indicators is also expensive, for it can keep cures off the market, hence the large cost of modern drugs to consumers and the health service generally. In the words of Robert Weinberg, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the use of pre-clinical tests results in
“hundreds of millions of dollars…being wasted every year by drug companies using these [animal] models”,
according to Leaf 2004.
Other areas of valuable research that might help in understanding the impact of drugs in human beings suffer as a result of animal testing. Despite animal models forming a very minor part of research, they receive a large proportion of funding. Society does not need new research methods; it simply needs to fund the ones that we already have. The important point is that it is possible to test these clinical drugs on humans, so that we can have a better indication of how they will react pre and post-clinical trials.
Society needs to make a fundamental change from animal-based research to human-based research. If it is humans whom we are trying to help, then scientists must study disease and drug reactions in humans. New technologies, outlined by the Safer Medicines Trust, are based on monitoring human responses to new drugs in a variety of ways. Those range from combinations of tissues in “body-on-a-chip” devices to safe volunteer studies such as micro-dosing, where tiny amounts of a new drug are administered to human volunteers. Scientists, in turn, evaluate what the drug does to the body and what the body does to the drug. Micro-dosing in particular has shown to be highly predictive of results in the clinic. Astoundingly, these tests are already commercially available from a number of UK companies, and offer a much safer and less risky alternative to using animals in clinical trials.
More than 150 colleagues have signed a motion calling on the Government—it is Christmas and this is not too much to ask—to initiate a small, cheap comparative study to demonstrate whether these new technologies are indeed superior. Sadly, the Government are resisting such a study and insist that human biology-based tests are not better able to predict adverse drug reactions than animal tests, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD)
The hon. Gentleman makes a compelling argument. Indeed, no one doubts his sincerity. However, if these human-based tests were more effective and cheaper than the animal tests, why are the commercially sensitive companies not taking that route? Why do they persist with animal testing?
Mr Amess
I am not going to fall out with a tough farmer, because the hon. Gentleman and I have perhaps slightly different views about animals generally. I understand his point, but he will be pleasantly surprised to find that there are many companies that now want to go for this different option. I have taken a lot of advice on it and we just need a little more encouragement from the Home Office and its advisers.
The attitude at the moment—I do not wish to be unkind to the Home Office—typifies the herd mentality that we are facing; a mentality that aims to promote quantity of opinion and that goes against the pioneering mentality of many breakthrough scientists. The comparison with human biology-based methods has attracted high-level support among scientists. Some 83% of GPs who were surveyed were in favour. Many colleagues have supported the early-day motion and I have received strong support for the Safety of Medicines Bill. All the scientists at the conferences of the Safer Medicines Trust in the House of Lords and the Royal Society were also in favour of my Bill.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is concerned that Britain is not one of the countries, such as Austria and Belgium, that has urged the European Commission to stand firm on an animal ban for cosmetics without exceptions, as was provisionally agreed by the European Union for 2013. That is not acceptable. Although I welcome the Government’s commitment to trying to encourage a reduction in animal experiments, there has so far been a lack of new initiatives to reverse what the evidence shows is a rising trend. I know that the Minister has received more than 20 proposals from the BUAV for policy changes. I very much hope that she will respond to those 20 points in correspondence.
Let me conclude with these thoughts. I am talking about negligible expenditure on a comparative study. The amount is quite small relatively, and—I say this to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams)—pharmaceutical companies will willingly fund such a study, which would therefore not impose a cost on the public purse. Such a study could save the billions of pounds that are currently wasted on animal testing by reducing ADRs and boosting pharmaceutical company efficiency. Critically, the sheer scale of ADRs and the fact that they are increasing at twice the rate of prescriptions means that we have an ethical imperative to take action to address what is a serious public health problem, with reported deaths up by 155%, according to The Independent. The key question is this, and I hope that the Minister can answer it—if she cannot, I would appreciate it if she wrote to me: on what basis do the Government refute the evidence that a number of human biology-based tests have predicted ADRs that animal tests failed to predict?
As we move towards Christmas celebrations, we are drawn to the image of the nativity, with the infant baby Jesus and his parents surrounded by animals. The image and the link could not be clearer. I trust that the Government will reflect on what I have said today and ensure that the proposals in the Safety of Medicines Bill, which I introduced earlier this year through the ten-minute rule procedure, can be enshrined in legislation, as the final gift, after gold, frankincense and myrrh, to both kingdoms represented by the nativity.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Roger Williams and David Amess
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD)
10. When he expects to receive the recommendations of the independent fuel poverty review.
Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)
14. When he expects to receive the recommendations of the independent fuel poverty review.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked Professor Hills of the London School of Economics to lead the independent fuel poverty review and to provide interim findings by this autumn and a final report by early 2012 at the latest.