Lewes MP and Lib Dem Animal Welfare spokesman Norman Baker has tabled two motions in the House of Commons which together call for an end to testing on animals for household products and question the ability of the Home Office to effectively regulate the testing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals upon animals under existing legislation. Norman has tabled the motions in conjunction with animal welfare groups Uncaged Campaigns and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and they have so far garnered substantial cross-party support.
Commenting on his motions Norman says:
"Animal testing is unacceptable where it is unnecessarily cruel or used for non-essential purposes. The Government recognised this back in 1998 when they decided to stop licensing the testing on animals of cosmetic and toiletry products and ingredients. However this action fell short of including other products - such as household cleaning products - for which testing on animals is not essential in order to guarantee consumer safety.
"I have tabled a motion in parliament which draws attention to this and calls upon the Government to take urgent action to end this situation where thousands of animals in this country are suffering in cruel and unnecessary experiments. The Government must now also take immediate action to tighten up the enforcement of existing legislation and provide all necessary support to the Home Office authorities so that they can effectively regulate the companies that continue to conduct these procedures."
ENDS
Full copies of the two Early Day Motions tabled by Norman are below.
EDM 685 UNCAGED CAMPAIGNS (please click here to see which other MPs have signed this EDM)
That this House welcomes the historic legal victory achieved by Uncaged Campaigns allowing publication, in the public interest, of documents and a report describing Imutran/Novartis' primate xenotransplantation research programme at Huntingdon Life Sciences; notes that the evidence contained within these documents, together with the fact of Uncaged Campaigns' victory, raises profound questions about severe animal suffering and the adequacy of the Home Office's enforcement of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and associated regulations; and calls upon the Government to establish an independent inquiry to investigate fully the conduct of the Home Office, Imutran and Huntingdon Life Sciences in relation to this programme of research.
EDM 738 ANIMAL TESTING AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS (please click here to see which other MPs have signed this EDM)
This House believes that in light of the UK Government's decision in 1998 to no longer license animal tests for cosmetic and toiletry products and ingredients on the basis that the trivial end product could not justify the animal suffering caused, and in light of the fact that the same lack of justification exists for causing harm to laboratory animals for non-essential items such as carpet shampoo or washing-up liquid, and taking into consideration the public's clear desire to end animal testing for what they consider to be non-essential items, calls on the Government to introduce a date for a ban on animal testing for household cleaning products and ingredients.
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