While animal testing for cosmetics is now banned in the UK, animals are still widely used in scientific experiments. This includes things like regulatory testing of drugs, chemicals, and medical devices, and research into human anatomy and diseases.
Today, the law that governs animal testing in the UK is called the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations 2012, known as ASPA. The Home Office modulates the Act in England, Scotland and Wales.
Not all animals are regulated under ASPA. The Act refers to those covered as 'protected animals.' This means they are regulated under the Act, not that they are protected from being used in research. The law defines a protected animal as any living vertebrate, other than humans, and any living cephalopod. Animals that don’t fit this definition have no legal protection from experimentation.
Some animals have 'special protections', including horses, cats, dogs and non-human primates. These animals are still commonly used in medical research in the UK. However, the law states that these species are only supposed to be used in cases where other species are deemed unsuitable or unavailable.
The law applies to any scientific or educational procedure conducted on protected animals, that could cause pain, distress, or lasting harm. ASPA also regulates the breeding of animals to be used in experiments and the methods used to kill protected animals.
Before a scientist can use animals in medical research, they must hold three licences from the Home Office. These are:
- A personal licence for each person conducting the experiments on animals
- A project licence for the programme of research work which includes animal experiments
- An establishment licence for the place where the animal experiments take place
ASPA groups animal suffering into four categories: mild, moderate, non-recovery or severe. The researcher will assess their proposed project’s severity banding. When they apply for a project licence, they will perform a harm-benefit analysis. This is when the scientist weighs up the potential benefit to humans and the resultant animal suffering. The law allows projects that cause any severity of suffering, provided the researcher states that the potential human benefit outweighs this harm.
Institutions will typically review the analysis internally at their animal welfare and ethical review bodies before they request a licence from the Home Office. Since this process is not made public, it is unclear how often these review boards reject projects due to the harm they will cause to animals. Additionally, the Home Office’s annual report does not reveal the number of licences they reject, either.