I did not know the exact number of animals used in research in the UK each year but I did not think it would be as high as it is. I find it most disappointing that despite the coalition governments pledge more animals are used in research now than 5 years ago, we should be striving to reduce the number rather than letting it grow. It turns out that the coalition governments pledge was to reduce the number of animals used per experiment, which has happened. It is because a greater number of experiments are being performed that, despite the reduction in the number of animals being used per experiment, there has been an overall increase in the number of animals in experiments.

I will be honest with you and say that I do feel it is acceptable to use animals in research  but only in certain cases not in all cases. The poor rate at which drugs shown to be successful in animals convert to being successful in humans is something I have been aware of and concerned by for some time and is part of the reason I feel more efforts should be being made to move towards methods by which the currently crucial role animal testing plays in research is no longer necessary.

In response to the 6 specific points:

1. Ban experiments on cats and dog. Generally I would support a ban on experiments on cats and dogs, with an exception on specific cases where it could be shown that the research was firstly both of sufficient importance and need to warrant the use of the animals and secondly that it could only be done with cats and dogs. Unbeknownst to me this is essentially the current situation, so my views match current legislation.

2.  End the secrecy surrounding animal experiments. I feel a compromise should be reached here, between some reduction in secrecy whilst maintaining the safety of the individuals involved in the experiments. I am all in favour of increased transparency in all aspects of life but I also recognise that there have been instances where researchers have been persecuted by certain individuals and I would not want any change to the law to encourage that. It turns out that the vast majority of researchers involved in the field share this viewpoint of mine and that there is already widespread political support for this change.

3.  Stop importing monkeys for use in laboratories. Again I would generally support a ban on importing monkeys for use in laboratories, with an exception on specific cases where it could be shown that the research was firstly both of sufficient importance and need to warrant the use of the animals and secondly that it could only be done with monkeys. Unbeknownst to me this is essentially the current situation, so my views match current legislation.

4.  End non-medical experiments. I wholeheartedly support an end to non-medical experiments and feel it should have already happened. The issue I had here was that I did not understand the definition of “non-medical experiments”. I interpreted this to mean essentially just cosmetic and industrial testing which I do think should be ended in the few cases where it has not already been done so. Actually the term includes all veterinary and fundamental biological research and I do not support an end to veterinary or fundamental biological research

5. Stop genetically modifying animals pending a review. I feel a review should be conducted into the use of genetically modified animals, but that the outcome of the review should dictate any changes made and therefore that there should not be a stop until we know whether the review concludes that there should be or not.

6.  Stop suffering in the most extreme experiments. Experiments that cause unnecessary and extreme suffering should be stopped and stopped as soon as possible.

Hopefully you find my answers on these issues helpful, animal research is a complex problem that I have very mixed feelings about and I feel this may be reflected in my answers.