Written question asked by Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 5 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 October 2007. It was answered by Jonathan Shaw (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Animals: Disease Control

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which viruses dangerous to animal or human health have been subject to experimentation at the (a) Pirbright and (b) Compton sites of the Institute for Animal Health.

Answer: DEFRA, as licensor and regulator under the Specified Animal Pathogens Order (SAPO) 1998 have issued the Institute for Animal Health with licences for both the Pirbright and Compton sites to hold category 3 and 4 viruses under that Order. Among the viruses covered by the Order are: bluetongue, African horse sickness, foot and mouth disease, African swine fever, avian influenza, avian oncogenic viruses, coronaviruses and morbiliviruses. It is not possible, for reasons of commercial confidentiality, to give details of specific viruses that have been subject to experimentation.

Secondary information