Animal experiment ban needs to cover all types of testing

AFTER decades of campaigning, the tide is finally turning on the use of animals in laboratory experiments.

- Dr Julia Baines

The government — soon to be followed by the EU — has published its strategy to make such experiments a thing of the past.

The UK strategy is set to address all types of animal experimentation, from curiosity-driven studies in which animals may be electrocuted, burnt, deliberately brain damaged, restrained and isolated, to those required for regulatory safety assessment purposes.

It’s a historic first but will it be enough? It promises that by the end of next year, no more animals will have their sensitive eyes damaged by chemicals in eye irritation tests, and no animals will have to endure skin allergy tests. Botulinum testing, unless required for “very defined” medical circumstances, will also be phased out by 2027.

Likewise, by the end of 2030, animals will no longer be injected with substances to stimulate the production of antibodies, which are then harvested through the removal of their blood, spleen cells or abdominal fluid. Animals will also no longer be injected with exceptionally high doses of vaccines or other drugs.