The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Bill

Abstract

Although the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Bill made it through its second reading in the House of Commons by a comfortable margin, the Government-backed bill faces solid opposition from the Liberal/Social Democratic Alliance and the leftist Campaign group of Labour MPs. Even the great majority of Labour MPs who do not belong to the Campaign group failed to demonstrate any positive support for the bill, which suggests that lobbyists against animal experimentation may have made their case more forcefully than those defending medical research. Although the bill will probably emerge from the House of Commons with additional restrictions on the use of animals in research, its life expectancy is expected to be short, given the political momentum of the animal welfare movement in Great Britain.