What is the Governments policy on the use of animals in scientific procedures?
The Government is working to ensure that the highest possible standards of animal welfare are applied to animals used in scientific procedures and that they are used only where it is fully justified, where the benefits outweigh the costs and where there are no suitable alternatives. To this end we are promoting the fullest application of the 3Rs – the replacement of procedures with others which do not use animals, the reduction of the number of animals used and the refinement of procedures to minimise pain and suffering.
This is the text of a letter Sir George has recently received from the Minister at the Home Office with responsibility for this subject. Dear Colleague GOVERNMENT POLICY ON THE USE OF ANIMALS IN SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURES The Home Office receives a lot of letters from members of the public, MPs, and special interest groups, about animal experiments and I know that parliamentary colleagues also receive a lot of correspondence and personal approaches about this subject. Because of this, I thought you might find it useful if I were to summarise and explain the Government’s position on the use of animals in experiments and for other scientific purposes. In fact, Government policy on the use of animals in scientific procedures is very straightforward. We believe that animal experiments continue to be necessary if improvements in healthcare are to be developed with the minimum of delay, and to protect man and the environment from other hazards. It is a fact that the National Health Service would
This is an important issue on which my constiutents contact me regularly, and this is the letter that the Minister at the Home Office recently sent me: Home Office 50 Queen Anne’s Gate London SW1H 9AT 3 December 2003 Dear Sir George I refer to the current Naturewatch campaign letter commenting on the number of animals used in scientific procedures in 2002 and calling for the more to be done to develop non-animal alternatives. I should begin by explaining that the number of animals used in scientific procedures in 2002 was 2.66 million -an increase of 3.5 per cent over 2001 – rather than 2.73 million, as quoted in the Naturewatch letter. This latter figure is the number of procedures started for the first time in 2002. In spite of the essential role animal studies continue to play in medical research and safety testing, significant progress has been made with the 3Rs -the refinement of scientific procedures, reduction in the number of animals used and their replacement wherever possible
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