Animal Testing Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Steve Race
Main Page: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)Department Debates - View all Steve Race's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Irene Campbell
I absolutely support Herbie’s law and, as I mentioned, the APPG is supported by Animal Free Research, which hopes to implement it. I agree 100% with the hon. Member.
Another extremely cruel test is the forced swim test, for which there are still three licences granted in the UK, lasting until 2028. The Government’s “Replacing animals in science” strategy states specifically:
“The test has limited scientific validity, particularly its translational relevance to human mental health disorders. Animal behaviour in the FST also lacks information on treatment latency and varies across strains and protocols. Therefore, we would expect the Home Office Regulator’s default position to be that the FST does not pass the harm-benefit test required under”
the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. To me and many others, it would make complete sense to cancel those licences immediately.
Steve Race (Exeter) (Lab)
I commend the petition’s signatories for bringing this debate to us. I also commend my hon. Friend, with whom I have been in many debates over the past two years, for all her hard work and advocacy in this area. Does she agree that, although the Government’s strategy to phase out the use of animals in medical research is a very good thing, it is just a step in the right direction on the journey to phasing out the use of animals in medical experimentation completely? Will she also join me in encouraging Members to take forward Herbie’s law as a private Member’s Bill in the new Session, as I have done over the past two years?
Irene Campbell
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind comments. I absolutely support the implementation of Herbie’s law sooner rather than later. I welcome the strategy, and I will say more about it later.
A year ago tomorrow, I led a debate on a very similar petition entitled “Ban immediately the use of dogs in scientific and regulatory procedures”, which was also created by Maria Iriart. It is clear to me and many others that neither the public nor parliamentarians are letting this issue go.