Home Department written question – answered at on 19 November 2003.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to encourage alternatives to animal testing for medical research.
The use of alternatives is widely encouraged and the use of animals in regulated procedures is prohibited by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in cases where a scientifically valid non-animal alternative is available. Every year the Home Office makes available to the Animal Procedures Committee (APC) a budget aimed at developing or promoting the use of alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used, or refine the procedures involved to minimise suffering (the 3Rs). Work aimed at improving the environmental conditions in which laboratory animals are kept and transported has also been sponsored. The amount made available to the Committee for 2003–04 for this specific purpose is £280,000.
This is not the only money spent by the Government on alternatives, other Departments also fund such work. It is estimated that the total spent by the United Kingdom Government is between £2 million and £10 million each year. Industry also spends many millions of pounds each year on the search for and development of alternatives.
We also support international initiatives, including the work of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM). The Chief Inspector of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate is now the United Kingdom representative on the ECVAM Scientific Advisory Committee and is contributing to discussions about the future direction of ECVAM's work. The Chief Inspector and other members of the Inspectorate also participated last year in the Fourth World Congress on alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, in New Orleans, which the Home Office co-sponsored.
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