Animal Testing

Bradley Thomas Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Irene Campbell]

I agree with everything my hon. Friend said. I will speak about some of this later on, but I have on occasion met the relevant Minister and we are due to have a meeting soon. At one meeting, I asked specifically that we remove dogs immediately from medical testing. I was very disappointed by the answer, but we need to keep up the momentum on these serious issues.

There are alternatives to animal research—known as new approach methodologies, or NAMs—that are constantly being researched and developed. For example, any Members here who attended last year’s Lush Cosmetics event would have seen their soaps depicting organ-on-a-chip technology; they are plastic chips that can mimic human organ and tissues for experimentation.

AI is another great and exciting opportunity for replacing animal testing. A software called AnimalGAN, developed by the US Food and Drug Administration, aims to accurately determine how rats would react to chemicals without the need to do new rat tests.

[Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. On cosmetics, does she share my concern about the continued use of botox in the non-surgical aesthetic treatment industry? Botox occupies an unusual, but perhaps not unique position in the market: because it is used for medical purposes, it falls under the medical definition and animal testing is allowed. However, it is increasingly being used in the cosmetics sphere—a loophole that needs to be addressed. For the record, I am wholly opposed to animal testing in all its forms; I believe it should be phased out across the board to the maximum extent possible.

[Irene Campbell]

The hon. Member raises an important point; that is not an area that I had considered before, but I absolutely agree. Any of us in this Chamber could go on an afternoon course and tomorrow be injecting people with botox, so his point is valid.

Virtual Second Species has created an AI-powered virtual dog, trained on historical dog tests. From an economics perspective, it is worth thinking about how much we could save by transitioning from animals to AI. What is the price of our not moving to a more contemporary scientific method, which would be not only kinder, but smarter? Recent research and analysis, commissioned by Lush Cosmetics and undertaken by the Common Sense Policy Group and Northumbria University, shows how much growth potential the sector has. Between 2021 and 2024, the UK’s non-animal methods sector grew rapidly, with turnover rising to more than £1.2 billion and employment increasing year on year.