New measures governing the use of animals in scientific procedures were set out by the UK government on 17 May.
The measures are being introduced to implement the new EU Directive 2010/63/EU which uses many of the UK’s existing standards as a template. However, as some European member states currently offer very limited protection for animals used in experiments, some of the new standards are lower than those of the UK.
Animal welfare groups including OneKind have engaged in detailed dialogue with the government throughout the transposition process so far, aiming to ensure that the UK’s existing animal welfare standards are maintained. Public concern over this issue was also demonstrated by the over 13,000 individuals and almost 100 organisations who submitted views and ideas to the Home Office consultation.
The government has now clarified that it intends to ‘copy out’ most of the provisions of the Directive, but to retain current stricter United Kingdom standards in some areas.
Rules being retained by the UK include:
- special protection for dogs, cats and horses as well as non-human primates
- stricter care and accommodation standards than those set out in the Directive (although there continues to be concern about reduced cage sizes for dogs).
- restrictions on procedures involving endangered species and great apes
- a requirement for individuals carrying out regulated procedures on animals to hold a personal licence (although the government plans to simplify the regime and remove some current requirements)
- a risk-based approach to inspection and a full programme of inspections (the Directive introduces inspection regimes for all Member States but with a lower minimum frequency than currently practised in the United Kingdom).
On the negative side, the government intends to reduce the extent and nature of the statistics that it collects about experiments in the UK, against the advice of animal welfare groups. On the important issue of freedom of information, where animal welfare groups had called for greater transparency about experiments by means of repealing s.24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, the government has simply said it will consider the options for revising the section, and publish its conclusions separately, in due course
Animal protection groups had argued for the transposition process to be pro-active in reducing the use of primates in UK laboratories, for example by clearly defining the medical conditions which would permit the use of non-human primates for research, rather than leaving this open to interpretation. The government has decided not to follow this option, although it does plan to press for a European definition of the relevant conditions.
Animal welfare groups also pressed for the UK to take a lead in using the new provisions for thematic reviews, to identify areas of research for replacement, an area which offers enormous scope for reducing animal suffering. The government now says that it will consult further with stakeholders to develop a programme of reviews.
Other key aspects of the Directive include a new legal requirement to implement non-animal methods, ensuring that ‘a scientifically satisfactory, non-animal method or testing strategy is used wherever possible and that the number of animals used is reduced to a minimum consistent with the objectives of the project’.
The Directive also creates a new requirement for the retrospective assessment of projects using non-human primates, as well as procedures classified as 'severe'. The UK government plans to extend this mandatory requirement to all specially protected species (cats, dogs and horses, as well as non-human primates). Other projects will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The number of experiments on animals in the UK has risen steadily over the last decade to just over 3.7 million in 2010, a figure which the government has committed to reducing. Announcing the proposals, Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone MP said that the government would continue to promote measures to ‘Replace, Reduce and Refine’ the use of animals, and would introduce a ban on the testing of household products on animals in due course.
The UK must transpose EU Directive 2010/63/EU by 10 November 2012 with national legislation being implemented from 1 January 2013. OneKind will continue to work with partners in the animal protection movement and press the government to deliver on its commitment to reduce animal testing.
See the OneKind submission to the consultation (PDF) from September 2011.