Animal Experiments

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking towards the full replacement of procedures on live animals for scientific and educational purposes.


Answered by
Victoria Atkins Portrait
Victoria Atkins
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This question was answered on 20th April 2021

This Government is committed to maintaining high standards of animal welfare where procedures are undertaken on live animals for scientific or educational purposes. It champions the work of the National Centre for the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) in supporting the research community to develop and use science and technology in the creation of new approaches to replace studies that require animals.

Central to any decision to use animals in research is the need for robust scientific evidence to justify the use of animals. 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.

Reticulating Splines