Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2019, what types of products are included in (a) blood based products (55,024 uses) and (b) other products (97,638 uses) under routine production; and what proportion of those products were for the production of antibodies monoclonal and polyclonal.

With reference to the report entitled Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2019, published in July 2020, the types of products included in blood-based products and other products under routine production can include serum, plasma, antibodies and pathogens.

The returns of data from establishments for the production of the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain has not requested specific data which would allow the calculation of the proportion of ‘other products’ that were for the production of monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies.

All applications for the use of animals in science are subject to a harm-benefit analysis, undertaken by the Home Office Inspectorate, to ensure that any harm that may be caused to the animals is justified by the expected benefits for humans, animals or the environment. The UK’s rigorous regulatory system requires that no testing takes place if there is a validated non-animal alternative that would achieve the scientific outcomes sought. Project licence proposals for research on animals for which there is no non-animal alternative must comply fully with the principles of the 3Rs: replacement, reduction and refinement.