Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to take steps to end the use of the lethal dose 50% test (LD50) in animal experiments.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Replacing Animals in Science strategy uses a ‘baskets’ approach to group animal tests according to how ready they are for replacement, based on the maturity of potential alternative methods. In addition, the Government-funded National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) has ongoing work to replace, reduce and refine LD/LC50 tests.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate may also require animal testing in either the development of new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control to ensure that only safe and effective veterinary medicines are marketed and supplied.