Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
Encyclopedia
The Animals Act 1986 (A(SP)A 86) is an Act
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
(1986 c. 14) passed in 1986, which regulates the use of laboratory animals in the UK. The Act permits experiments
to be carried out on animals, including procedures involving vivisection
, if certain criteria are met. The 1986 Act is the UK implementation of the European Directive EC 86/609, which is in the process of being revised.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
argues that the Act is designed to protect researchers from prosecution for cruelty
, rather than to protect the animals themselves. However, a select committee inquiry described the Act as the "tightest system of regulation in the world."
, which enforced a licensing and inspection system for vivisection
. Animal cruelty was previously regulated by the Protection of Animals Act 1911
(now largely repealed) and more recently by the Animal Welfare Act 2006
, both of which outlaw the causing of "unnecessary suffering". Specific exemptions apply to experiments licensed under the 1986 Act.
s other than humans, under the responsibility of humans. A 1993 amendment
added a single invertebrate species, Octopus vulgaris
, as a protected animal. The Act applies only to protected animals from halfway through their gestation
or incubation periods (for mammals, birds and reptiles) or from when they become capable of independent feeding (for fish, amphibians and, latterly, octopuses). Primate
s, cat
s, dog
s and horse
s have additional protection over other vertebrates under the Act.
It is an offence under the 1986 Act to carry out regulated procedures on a protected animal unless authorised by a personal licence, a project licence, and a certificate of designation.
has criticized the Act, arguing that its main function is not to protect animals, but to protect researchers by permitting them to carry out acts that would be illegal outside a laboratory setting. BUAV writes that, "Under the 1986 Act, it is still perfectly legal for an animal in a laboratory to be unnaturally caged for its entire life; poisoned; deprived of food, water or sleep; applied with skin and eye irritants; subjected to psychological stress; deliberately infected with diseases such as cancer and AIDS; brain damaged; paralysed; surgically mutilated; irradiated; burned; gassed; force fed, electrocuted and killed."
A report by Animal Aid
calls the Act a "vivisectors' charter", alleging that it allows researchers to do as they please and makes them practically immune from prosecution. The report says that licences to perform experiments are obtained on the basis of a "nod of approval" from the Home Office Inspectorate, and that the Home Office relies on the researchers' own cost-benefit analysis of the value of the experiment versus the suffering caused.
A 2002 House of Lords
select committee inquiry compared the Act to legislation from France, the U.S., and Japan. The report concluded that "virtually all witnesses agreed that the UK has the tightest system of regulation in the world" and that it is "the only country to require an explicit cost/benefit assessment of every application to conduct animal research." Note that costs are explicitly in terms of animal adverse effects, not the financial cost to the experimenters.
In 2005, Patricia Hewitt
, then British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
, called the Act "[among] the strongest laws in the world to protect animals which are being used for medical research."
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
(1986 c. 14) passed in 1986, which regulates the use of laboratory animals in the UK. The Act permits experiments
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
to be carried out on animals, including procedures involving vivisection
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
, if certain criteria are met. The 1986 Act is the UK implementation of the European Directive EC 86/609, which is in the process of being revised.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments...
argues that the Act is designed to protect researchers from prosecution for cruelty
Cruelty to animals
Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with...
, rather than to protect the animals themselves. However, a select committee inquiry described the Act as the "tightest system of regulation in the world."
Background
Prior to A(SP)A 86, the use of animals in the UK was regulated by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876Cruelty to Animals Act 1876
The Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which set limits on the practice of, and instituted a licensing system for animal experimentation, amending the Cruelty to Animals Act 1849...
, which enforced a licensing and inspection system for vivisection
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
. Animal cruelty was previously regulated by the Protection of Animals Act 1911
Protection of Animals Act 1911
The Protection of Animals Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received Royal Assent on 18 August 1911.The act consolidated several previous pieces of legislation, among others repealing the Cruelty to Animals Act 1849 and the Wild Animals in Captivity Protection Act 1900...
(now largely repealed) and more recently by the Animal Welfare Act 2006
Animal Welfare Act 2006
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It is the first overhaul of pet law since the Protection of Animals Act 1911, which it largely replaced. It also superseded and consolidated more than 20 other pieces of legislation, such as the Protection of Animals Act...
, both of which outlaw the causing of "unnecessary suffering". Specific exemptions apply to experiments licensed under the 1986 Act.
Scope
The 1986 Act defines regulated procedures as animal experiments that could potentially cause "pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm", to protected animals, which encompass all living vertebrateVertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s other than humans, under the responsibility of humans. A 1993 amendment
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
added a single invertebrate species, Octopus vulgaris
Common Octopus
The Common Octopus is the most studied of all octopus species. Its natural range extends from the Mediterranean Sea and the southern coast of England to at least Senegal in Africa. It also occurs off the Azores, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands.- Characteristics :O. vulgaris grows to 25 cm...
, as a protected animal. The Act applies only to protected animals from halfway through their gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
or incubation periods (for mammals, birds and reptiles) or from when they become capable of independent feeding (for fish, amphibians and, latterly, octopuses). Primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s, cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s have additional protection over other vertebrates under the Act.
Licences and certificates
A(SP)A 86 involves three levels of regulation — person, project, and place. The 'person' level is achieved by the granting of a "personal licence" (PIL) to a researcher wishing to carry out regulated procedures on a protected animal. Having undergone a defined sequence of training, a researcher can apply for a PIL permitting specified techniques to be carried out on named species of animals. The 'project' level of regulation is governed by the granting of a "project licence" (PPL) to a suitably qualified senior researcher. The PPL will detail the scope of the work to be carried out, the likely benefits that may be realised by the work, and the costs involved in terms of the numbers and types of animals to be used. Typically a large and detailed document, the PPL precisely defines which techniques may be applied to particular animals and for what purpose. Finally the place where regulated procedures are carried out is controlled by the granting of a "certificate of designation" (PCD) to a senior authority figure at the establishment, such as the Registrar of a University or the CEO of a commercial company. The PCD details which rooms in the establishment are permitted to be used for certain techniques and species.It is an offence under the 1986 Act to carry out regulated procedures on a protected animal unless authorised by a personal licence, a project licence, and a certificate of designation.
Opinion
The British Union for the Abolition of VivisectionBritish Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments...
has criticized the Act, arguing that its main function is not to protect animals, but to protect researchers by permitting them to carry out acts that would be illegal outside a laboratory setting. BUAV writes that, "Under the 1986 Act, it is still perfectly legal for an animal in a laboratory to be unnaturally caged for its entire life; poisoned; deprived of food, water or sleep; applied with skin and eye irritants; subjected to psychological stress; deliberately infected with diseases such as cancer and AIDS; brain damaged; paralysed; surgically mutilated; irradiated; burned; gassed; force fed, electrocuted and killed."
A report by Animal Aid
Animal Aid
Animal Aid, founded in 1977, is a British animal rights organisation. The group campaigns peacefully against all forms of animal abuse and promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle. It also investigates and exposes animal cruelty....
calls the Act a "vivisectors' charter", alleging that it allows researchers to do as they please and makes them practically immune from prosecution. The report says that licences to perform experiments are obtained on the basis of a "nod of approval" from the Home Office Inspectorate, and that the Home Office relies on the researchers' own cost-benefit analysis of the value of the experiment versus the suffering caused.
A 2002 House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
select committee inquiry compared the Act to legislation from France, the U.S., and Japan. The report concluded that "virtually all witnesses agreed that the UK has the tightest system of regulation in the world" and that it is "the only country to require an explicit cost/benefit assessment of every application to conduct animal research." Note that costs are explicitly in terms of animal adverse effects, not the financial cost to the experimenters.
In 2005, Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
, then British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills is a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. Its secondary title is the President of the Board of Trade...
, called the Act "[among] the strongest laws in the world to protect animals which are being used for medical research."