PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS (4 March 1993)

That this House notes with concern the malpractice uncovered at Wickham Laboratories, owned by Mr William Cartmell, who is a qualified veterinary surgeon, by a British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection investigation; notes that this included the falsification of test weights, holding animals in conditions that fail to meet minimum Home Office standards, failing to properly maintain equipment for humanely killing animals and leaving this task to untrained staff; is further concerned that the Home Office Inspectorate failed to prevent this malpractice and that licences were issued for experiments for which alternatives appeared to be available or were not required by relevant United Kingdom and EC regulatory bodies; notes that this is the fifth such investigation in four years, all of which have revealed problems with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; and therefore calls for the withdrawal of Wickham Laboratories' certificate to conduct animal experiments and for an independent review of the operation of the 1986 Act.

Sponsored by:
Sir Andrew Bowden (Conservative)