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Dstl: Animal Experiments

Question for Ministry of Defence

UIN 37727, tabled on 20 April 2020

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether researchers at Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down are working on animal model development; and how much funding that laboratory has allocated to developing non-animal research methods in each of the last three years.

Answered on

23 April 2020

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is developing and using animal models where this is necessary to understand and mitigate potential hazards to UK Service personnel and civilians

The principles of the "three Rs" of 'reduce' (the number of animals used), 'refine' (animal procedures) and 'replace' (animal experiments with non-animal alternatives) are integral to all animal procedures at Dstl, and so separate allocations for developing non-animal research methods cannot be identified.