Dogs: Animal Experiments

(asked on 22nd February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the level of need for the breading of beagles at Huntingdon for use in veterinary medical experimentation.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 25th February 2022

Under the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act (ASPA), dogs (together with cats, horses, and non-human primates) are specially protected species. This means that greater oversight is required of establishments holding these species and of projects using these species.

As with any project approved under ASPA, all projects proposing to use dogs for research must be for a purpose which is permissible as stated in ASPA. Potential benefits from this research must be likely to be achieved and maximised otherwise no authorisation will be permitted.

Most dogs used for research purposes are for the safety testing of potential new medicines. This is based on internationally set requirements which require testing of potential new medicines in non-rodent mammals (usually dogs or macaque monkeys) to protect human health. However, it is legal to use dogs in other research provided the project meets the requirements of ASPA and has a positive harm benefit assessment.

Government policy is to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved through funding UKRI who both fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and fund research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.

No assessment has made of the level of need for the breeding of beagles for use in science. The requirement for the level of breeding is largely determined by the level of testing required for the safety testing of medicines.

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