Vol. 276 No. 10
andMr. Kitt asked the Minister for Health the proportion of the almost 70,000 experiments on living animals in this country in 1973 which were performed in the interests of medical research; and the number which were performed in connection with commercial or industrial research tests.
60.
andMr. Gogan asked the Minister for Health the extent to which alternative techniques, not involving the use of living animals and already being widely used in many countries throughout the world, have replaced the use of laboratory animals in this country.
61.
asked the Minister for Health the total amount of the Government grant to the Medical Research Council and any other bodies for research during the past year; and if he will state the proportions in which this money was allocated by the recipient bodies as between research involving the use of living animals and other research.
62.
andMr. Malone asked the Minister for Health if he anticipates that the drop in the number of experiments on living animals in the Republic in 1973 will be progressively maintained by the adoption of new techniques not involving live animals.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 to 62 together.
The figure of 67,931 experiments on living animals to which the Deputies refer includes both medical and veterinary research. None of the experiments was in the sense implied in the question performed in connection with purely commercial and industrial research tests and only 6,330 of these were carried on outside of university or other institutes of research. In this respect I should point out that no experiment may be carried out under a licence issued by the Minister for Health under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, except with a view either to the advancement by new discovery of physiological knowledge or of knowledge which will be useful for saving or prolonging life or alleviating suffering or with a view to the acquisition of such knowledge by persons attending lectures in, for example, medical schools, hospitals or colleges. The 6,330 experiments to which I referred earlier were carried out in a commercial premises to ensure that the surgical products produced at that premises were fit for use on humans in respect of pyrogenicity and toxicity.
In granting licences to applicants under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, consideration is always given to the issue as to whether the knowledge sought, and so on, can be obtained without recourse to the use of living animals. My advisers in the Department of Health keep themselves informed of developments in relation to alternative techniques. I cannot at this point in time give Deputies any precise estimate of the numbers of experiments performed in the present calendar year—my Department will not be collecting the returns until January— but such information as I have leads me to believe that there is unlikely to be any significant alteration in the number of experiments carried out. I have no information either which would enable me to make predictions about trends in future years and I regret, therefore, that I cannot assent to the Deputies assumption that the downward trend will continue by reason of the adoption of new techniques.
The total amount of grant made to the Medical Research Council for the year 1973 was £206,000—of which one-third approximately was spent on experiments involving living animals. The amount of grant allocated to the Medico-Social Research Board was £114,670 for the year 1973-1974 and none of this money was expended upon research or experimentation involving live animals of vivisection. No other funds are made available by my Department for medical research.
