Ethics of Research involving animals
Legislation, regulation and policy relating to scientific procedures on animals
Introduction
13.1 In this chapter we consider the regulatory framework for research involving animals in the UK. We describe the historical background to the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (A(SP)A), its principal provisions and the three types of licence that it sets forth as requirements (personal licences, project licences and the certificate of designation for the establishment). We explain why the A(SP)A regulates ‘procedures’, rather than experiments, and how the severity of procedures is classified in regulatory terms. Having set out these general features, we describe how the Act is operated in practice. We consider the role of the Home Office Inspectorate, the Animal Procedures Committee (APC) and the institutional local Ethical Review Process (ERP). The way in which the cost-benefit assessment is undertaken and statistical data about the use of animals are presented are also reviewed. We go on to consider developments in regulation at the international level. Finally, UK and international regulation that either explicitly demands the use of animals for specific purposes, or sets out testing guidelines that are usually interpreted as requiring the use of animals are summarised (see paragraphs 8.22 and 9.4).
Footnotes1 Radford M (2001) Animal Welfare Law in Britain: Regulation and responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Chapter 3.
2 Published reports include that of the Littlewood Committee in 1965, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Laboratory Animals Protection Bill (1980) and the Report of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Animal Experiments (1981).