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Written question asked by Alex Sobel (Labour) on Monday, 19 July 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 22 July 2021 (named day). It was answered by Victoria Atkins (Conservative) on Thursday, 22 July 2021 on behalf of the Home Office.

Animal Experiments: Dogs

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the publication of the annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain for 2020, what harms were experienced by the 10 dogs who were genetically altered with a harmful phenotype.

Answer

The Home Office assigns severity classification to protocols in accordance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (as amended) which is published at:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/14/contents. The classification takes account of the highest severity likely to be experienced by any animal used in the protocol and takes account of the pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm that an animal is likely to experience, after applying all the appropriate refinement techniques. The severity classification for the 10 dogs with a harmful genetically altered phenotype was ‘Moderate’.

The Home Office assures that, in every research proposal animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible, the number of animals are reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the result sought, and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
35874
Session
2021-22
Related items
Subjects
Animal experiments Dogs
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk