Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to end animal testing; and what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress towards the (a) development and (b) adoption of non-animal testing methods.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing, which is a long-term goal.

Progress has been made towards the development and adoption of non-animal test methods within the OECD’s Environmental Health and Safety Programme. The UK leads on and supports numerous projects producing internationally harmonised tools and guidance for ‘New Approach Methodologies’ based regulatory chemical assessment across a number of working groups. This includes the Test Guidelines Programme, where the UK recently contributed to the development of the first internationally harmonised guideline to describe a non-animal defined approach that can be used to replace completely replace animal tests to identify skin sensitizsers and predict potency.

In line with the Government’s Manifesto commitment, Defra, along with partners from sectors with interests in animal science and on a cross-Government level are currently engaging with DSIT to develop a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods to animal testing. We expect the publication of this strategy later this year.