Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help encourage companies to transition away from testing products on animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Animal testing of chemical substances is permitted under UK REACH only as a measure of last resort; this principle is reinforced by the Environment Act 2021. Moreover, UK REACH states that test methods should be regularly reviewed with a view to reducing animal testing and it encourages the use of alternative methods. Testing and assessment of final products is not a part of UK REACH.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicinal products. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available and the VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes and this commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to end the lethal dose 50% process for testing of substances on groups of animals; and if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department about increasing funding for non-animal methodologies in substance testing.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.
LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Some authorised medicines in the UK include (LD50) quality control tests which require the use of animals, conducted to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of specific medicines. UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to review the standard duration of licences for animal research, and (2) to introduce more challenge into the system for granting such licences, given the pace of technological change in the sector.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is going to conduct an internal review in relation to the duration of project licences for animal research under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), as announced in the parliamentary debate on 19 February 2024.
The use of animals in scientific procedures is only authorised by the Home Office Regulator where there is clear scientific benefit, to people, animals, or the environment. The regulatory framework has a rigorous approach to the application of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) in all applications for programmes of work involving animals. Establishments conducting research must have robust internal governance systems and processes that ensure the regulated activities carried out at the establishment are undertaken in accordance with the principles of the 3Rs. Our application of the 3Rs principles continuously evolves with scientific developments.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of new technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science; and what is their timetable for the publication of any such plans.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On Monday 19th February, Andrew Griffith MP, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation announced that the government will be publishing a plan to accelerate the development, validation, and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science. This will be led by a cross-government group that will consult stakeholders in industry, academia, and charities to develop a detailed plan, which will be published in the summer.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to increase the fees for licences to use animals in scientific research, and (2) to seek to reduce the use of animals in such research.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has laid a Statutory Instrument in parliament to increase the fees payable for licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) to come into effect on 6th April 2024.
The Government recently announced that it will double investment, from £10m to £20m per annum, in research to achieve the three Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) and develop non-animal alternatives. The Government will also publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science.
The Government is committed to opportunities for reducing the use of animals in scientific research. Specifically, this Government has recently accepted the recommendations of the independent Animals in Science Committee to further restrict the use of the forced swim test and apply enhanced scrutiny to any proposal to use it in research. However, we intend to go further and have set an aim to completely eliminate its use, thus driving the development and validation of suitable alternatives (see: www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-on-the-use-of-the-forced-swim-test-letter-from-lord-sharpe/letter-from-lord-sharpe-of-epsom-responding-to-the-asc-forced-swim-test-report-accessible).
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a fee for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and using the funds generated to (a) support the further development of non-animal methods and (b) improve enforcement of the regulatory framework.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government charges fees for regulation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 on a full cost recovery basis. The Government has no plans to introduce a fee for project licences. The Government will shortly increase the current fees to maintain high standards of regulation.
The Government recently announced that it will double investment, from £10m to £20m per annum, in research to achieve the three Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) and develop non-animal alternatives. The Government will also publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has commissioned independent research to make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of using (a) dogs as a second species and (b) new non-animal scientific approaches in toxicological testing.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The use of dogs as a second species in toxicological testing remains an important step in the development of safe new medicines, treatments, technologies, and other chemicals. The use of animals in science is highly regulated, and includes a three-tier system of licensing which licenses each establishment, project, and individual involved in performing regulated procedures involving animals.
Currently, there is no independent research commissioned by the Government, that makes a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of using dogs as a second species and new non-animal scientific approaches in toxicological testing. Instead, the Government’s current approach is to actively support and accelerate advances in biomedical science and technologies to reduce reliance on the use of animals in research and importantly, to avoid some of the scientific limitations of animal models of human diseases. This includes stem cell research, the development of cell culture systems that mimic the function of human organs, imaging, and new computer modelling techniques.
UK Research and Innovation remains strongly committed to supporting the development of techniques that replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), and provides core funding for the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). The NC3Rs works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice, and regulations on animal research.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many animal testing licences for chemical substances used as cosmetic ingredients were for substances used exclusively in cosmetics between 2019 and 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 2019 and 2022, the Government granted one licence authorising animal testing for chemicals used exclusively as ingredients in cosmetic products, for the purposes of worker or environmental safety under chemicals (REACH) regulations.
I can confirm that, following the Government’s ban of 17 May 2023, no animal testing is being conducted, nor will any testing be authorised, of chemicals that are exclusively intended to be used as ingredients in cosmetics products.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter dated 29 August 2023 from Lord Sharpe of Epsom to the Chair of the Animals in Science Committee, what progress they have made in considering the relocation of the portfolio under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
There are no plans to relocate the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 portfolio from the Home Office to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The Home Office is working with DSIT to advance the Government’s ambitions for the life sciences and the protection of animals used in science.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the survey on Public attitudes to animal research, last conducted for the Office for Life Sciences in 2018, when her Department plans to commission a further survey.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The department does not currently have plans to run the Public Attitudes in Animal Research Survey. Policy teams are working with a variety of external and internal stakeholders to determine the future of the survey.