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Ministry of Defence;Defence Evaluation and Research Agency

Answer

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many animals were used in experiments carried out at Porton Down in each year since 1967 (a) in total, (b) by species and (c) by category of experiments. [17919] Mr. Spellar: [holding answer 28 November 1997]: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member. Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Norman Baker, dated 2 December 1997: As Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency which has responsibility for the Chemical and Biological Defence (CBD) Sector at Porton Down, I have been asked to respond to your question about animal experiments. CBD Sector has attempted to locate all of the information which you have requested. However, during the period from 1967 to 1980, records on the numbers and species of animals used for experimental work were returned to the Home Office by the individual Home Office project licence holders, and were not collated centrally. The information for this period could, therefore, only be provided at disproportionate cost. We can, however, provide data on the numbers and species of animals involved in experiments from 1980 to 1996, shown in the table below. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Dog Guinea Hamste Horse Mouse Pig Rabbit Rat Goat Sheep Cattle Chick Non- {1}Oth Total Pig r human er primat e 1980 49 8,012 0 0 5,318 74 469 3,619 0 28 0 0 199 3 17,771 1981 90 7,078 0 0 7,916 90 207 1,670 0 20 0 0 137 15 17,223 1982 193 7,718 0 0 3,783 71 204 1,107 0 28 0 0 145 181 13,430 1983 167 6,488 0 0 952 75 135 1,249 0 71 0 0 186 148 9,471 1984 99 4,833 0 0 2,530 93 172 2,529 0 100 0 0 277 274 10,907 1985 57 2,007 0 0 2,098 55 186 1,760 0 105 0 0 269 40 6,577 1986 31 598 0 0 1,461 40 282 3,690 0 47 0 0 249 0 6,398 1987 8 393 0 7 1,719 25 239 5,602 0 186 0 0 117 11 8,307 1988 0 1,024 0 1 962 11 194 5,681 0 87 1 0 164 6 8,131 1989 4 804 0 0 1,570 54 151 6,275 0 92 1 0 64 2 9,017 1990 0 670 0 50 2,070 86 126 4,827 70 113 0 1 80 0 8,093 1991 0 306 0 46 1,148 102 133 4,190 0 120 1 2 31 0 6,079 1992 0 231 0 44 1,319 132 132 2,472 0 105 0 1 72 0 4,506 1993 0 354 0 16 3,069 109 136 2,907 0 70 0 0 36 0 6,697 1994 0 364 0 0 4,946 102 16 1,898 0 73 0 0 17 0 7,416 1995 0 495 0 0 6,706 48 39 1,406 0 36 0 0 17 0 8,747 1996 0 792 42 0 7,701 48 19 2,428 0 53 0 0 14 0 11,097 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Includes animals not normally returned as species, e.g. ferrets and gerbils. Note: Numbers of procedures carried out on animals from 1980 to 1996, by species and year, as returned to the Home Office by CBD Sector. The current legislative requirements governing the use of animals in scientific experiments, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, came into effect in 1986. Prior to this date all non-human primates were returned to the Home Office as "monkeys". Therefore, for the period 1986-96, we have incorporated the figures for Rhesus monkeys and marmosets into "non-human primates" for comparative purposes. As far as the categories of experiments are concerned, it is the auspices of this Act that the categories are defined on individual project licences; prior to 1986 they were classified in a different manner. The Home Office does not require the numbers of procedures returned annually to be related to the categories stated on individual project licences. We do not, therefore, have these figures readily available and this information could only be provided at disproportionate cost. I hope that the information we have been able to provide is helpful.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

17919; 302 c174-5W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Animals Animal experiments Defence Evaluation and Research Agency Chemical Defence Establishment Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment Porton Down (Wiltshire)

Contains statistics

Yes