To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will undertake a review of defined areas in regulatory animal testing that includes the use of second species and multiple routes of administering substances with the aim of identifying and eliminating avoidable tests.
Answered on
27 July 2018
Second species testing is required to ensure drugs are safe for patient use. The standards for second species testing, and other types of regulatory testing, are regularly reviewed, updated and set by experts as part of our UK commitment to international regulation.
The UK maintains a rigorous regulatory system which ensures that animal research and testing is carried out only where no practicable alternatives exist and under controls which keep suffering to a minimum. The Home Office ensures all research proposals are compliant with the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3Rs).