I am repeating the following written ministerial statement made today in the other place by the Minister of State for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear, my noble Friend Lord Vallance of Balham:
Today, the Government are laying before Parliament a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods to the use of animals in science.
The Government are proud to lead a new era in advancing innovative and effective approaches to scientific research and development. We are committed to delivering on our manifesto pledge to “partner with scientists, industry and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. Not only that, but we aim to establish the UK as a world leader in developing and adopting alternatives to animal testing. This reflects not only our deep commitment to animal welfare, but our belief in the economic, scientific and societal benefits that come from investing in and phasing in modern alternatives. The Government recognise the urgency of this transition and are determined to drive meaningful change through co-ordinated, cross-governmental action.
Our vision is for a world where the use of animals in research and development is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances, achieved by creating a research and innovation system that replaces animals with alternative methods where scientifically possible. This will include a wide range of new and validated alternatives used in discovery and translational research, and new methodologies for chemical and environmental testing, and safety and toxicity testing of potential novel human and veterinary medicines. This strategy lays out the steps that we, the Government, will take over the next five years towards achieving this vision across the whole of the UK. We also highlight specific instances of animal use where we will take immediate and near-future action to ensure alternative methods are applied going forward.
The use of animals in science at present provides an important insight into human and animal biology and disease. Animals are also used in many sectors to test the safety and efficacy of chemicals in consumer products, and in new human and veterinary vaccines, medicines and medical devices before they are trialled in their intended populations or marketed. Enabling the properly regulated use of animals, while we move away from animal testing, is essential to improving the health and lives of humans and animals and to the safety and sustainability of our environment. We will continue to support the appropriate use of animals where reliable and effective alternatives are not yet available. But we will not accept a slow pace of change when and where scientific and technical advances mean that a faster transition away from animal use is possible.
Recent scientific advances have provided new impetus to the development of alternative methods that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research—the three R’s. There is also a rapidly accelerating global movement to adopt alternative methods in the life sciences, which we not only welcome but aim to accelerate further and seek to be a world leader in. The maturity of these methods differs across scientific and regulatory sectors, but alternative methods are being applied in a wide range of contexts across discovery research, veterinary science, drug and chemical discovery, toxicity testing and clinical investigations. We are at a tipping point where international regulatory and political commitment, technological capabilities and scientific advances are converging to create a system capable of delivering the scientific, commercial, societal, economic and animal welfare benefits offered by alternative methods.