Experiments on Living Animals

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 March 1971.

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Photo of Mr Ken Lomas Mr Ken Lomas , Huddersfield West 12:00, 31 March 1971

It is for these reasons that I suggest that there is a need to establish a research institute to study and develop methods not including the use of animals. I believe that the establishment of such an institute would be welcomed by scientists and the general public.

Hon. Members and especially the right hon. Lady know as well as anyone that there is tremendous concern about animals, and that if our postbags are full of nothing else they are full of letters about animals. But I am sure that the vast majority of constituents of hon. Members on both sides of the House would be horrified if they knew of the total number of live experments in this country.

I like to think that such a research institute would be vested in the Medical Research Council, the Government's principal agency for the development of medical research, but if that is not acceptable, some alternative method has to be found.

It has been calculated by the National Anti-Vivisection Society that the cost of such a research institute, including running costs for the first five years, would be about £1 million. That is not an excessive sum of money to stop the needless cruelty and pain inflicted on animals and by the establishment of such an institute it might well be possible to increase our knowledge for the benefit of science and the future well being of the people of this country.

The functions of the institute, as I see it, would be to collate information from all over the world concerning techniques which negate the need for the use of animals, and to study, develop and expand their use generally in medical research. There is no doubt that there is concern in areas of medical research which are currently involved in the extensive use of animals, with the standardisation and testing of drugs and the manufacture and testing of vaccines and sera, and there is substantial evidence to suggest that such tests can be made effectively in vitro using cell and tissue cultural methods without recourse to live animals, and such techniques have been shown to be more reliable, quicker and cheaper. If the Minister would like me to send her a list of references appertaining to this aspect of the use of cell and tissue culture, I should be glad to do so.

I do not pretend to be either a scientist or a doctor, but from what information I have been given it would appear that we in this country are lagging behind many other countries in seeking an alternative method of research. We are certainly behind the United States of America, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Finland and Germany. We pride ourselves on being a nation of animal lovers, and yet there are 5½ million animals used for live experiments in the course of any one year.

If such an institute as I suggest were established, it would give tremendous impetus to the search for alternatives, which must be welcomed by all concerned on humanitarian and practical grounds. It could lead to the discovery of new methods of research far superior to those involving the use of animals both in terms of economy and reliability. It is sometimes said by Governments and organisations interested in such matters that the use of animals in experiments is a regrettable necessity. If that is so, and if the present Government are truly concerned at the increasing volume of animal experimentation, the establishment of a research institute along the lines I have suggested would be a practical demonstration of their sincerity and an enlightened step forward to deal with a situation which reflects credit on no one.

Since the Cruelty to Animals Act was passed in 1876, 95 years ago, not a single Amendment has been moved from either side of the House that would lessen the pain inflicted on the animals involved in experiments. The experimenter has been protected, but the animal has not. In the 50 years from 1919 to 1969 over 90 million animals died as a result of experiments, and almost every one of those experiments inflicted some pain or suffering on the animal concerned. It is time we found an alternative method. I understand from the National Anti-Vivisection Society that it has written to the 14,000 licensed vivisectors in the country asking for their views on the creation of such an institute, and the replies so far have been most encouraging.

The question goes beyond the boundaries of Britain. Earlier this year the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, following a recommendation from its Science and Technology Committee, argued the case for a thorough study of the whole question of experiments on live animals. It suggested that a Commission should be appointed to draft international legislation setting out the conditions and the scientific grounds on which experiments on live animals could be authorised. It also argued that there should be a documentation and information centre open to all interested parties to collect information on the types of experiments carried out, the kind and number of animals used, and the alternatives to the use of live animals, and that experiments on live animals in schools for teaching purposes should be forbidden, and that such experiments in universities should be limited by replacing them with new visual methods.

I am deeply honoured that the Secretary of State for Education and Science is to reply to the debate. It is a great privilege that we should have someone from the Cabinet who is interested in the subject here tonight. In far too many schools—I speak as a father of three children—children are being taught to love, care for and look after animals which at a later stage are being used as subjects not necessarily for vivisection but certainly for dissection and experiments of one kind and another. I deplore that.

I return to my main point, the need for the establishment of a research institute to study and develop methods not including the use of animals. Will the Secretary of State give a firm assurance that such a proposition will receive sympathetic consideration, and assure the House that she is in favour of reducing, if not totally abolishing—which I accept we cannot do, the number of vivisections in this country, in the interests of humanity, the animal kingdom and the people who love animals?