Animal Procedures Committee

The Animal Procedures Committee advises the British Home Secretary on matters related to animal testing in the UK. The function of the committee was made a statutory requirement by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (the Act), which mandates that it should have at least 12 members, excluding the chair.^[1] There are currently 16 members.

Contents 1 Composition of members 2 Work of the committee 3 Membership 4 References 5 Further reading

Composition of members

The Act stipulates that at least two-thirds of the members have full registration as medical practitioners or veterinary surgeons, or that they be qualified in a relevant biological subject; that one member be a barrister, solicitor, or advocate; that at least half the membership should not have held an animal-testing licence during the last six years; and that the interests of animal welfare should be adequately represented.^[1]

There is normally an academic philosopher on the committee, although this is not required by the Act. There is currently one philosopher: Dr. Simon Glendinning of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Members are appointed for terms of up to four years and may be re-appointed once. Apart from the Chair, members receive only expenses.^[2]

Work of the committee

The committee advises the Home Secretary on matters concerned with the Act and his functions under it; and also to examine other related subjects considered worthy of further study.

There are four sub-committees: The Applications Sub-committee considers licence applications referred to the Committee for advice; the Education and Training Sub-committee advises on the requirements for training and education of those who hold responsibilities under the Act or who carry out duties under the controls of the Act; the Housing and Husbandry Sub-committee considers housing and husbandry issues on a case by case basis as requested by the Committee; the Primate Sub-committee advises on issues relating to the acquisition, housing, care and use of non-human primates in regulated procedures.

In addition, a number of working groups have been established. They are created for a particular task and then disbanded. As of March 2010 there are two working groups: The Revision of Directive 86/609 working group is reviewing the directive; the Suffering and Severity working group is reviewing aspects of the system of severity limits and bands.

Membership

As of March 2010, the committee members (and their professional affiliations) were:^[3]:

• Sara Nathan (chair), freelance journalist
• Professor Hannah Buchanan-Smith, Professor of Behaviour and Evolution Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling;
• Mike Dennis, Research Scientist, Centre for Emergency Preparedness & Response, Health Protection Agency;
• Dr John Doe, Head of Health Assessment, Syngenta;
• Dr Simon Glendinning, Fellow in European Philosophy in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science;
• Dr Penny Hawkins, Deputy Head, Research Animals Department, RSPCA;
• Dr Peter Hunt, Biological Standards Officer, Cardiff University;
• Robert Kemp, retired animal technician;
• Professor Keith Kendrick, Head of Cognitive and Behaviourial Neuroscience, The Babraham Institute and Professor of Physic, Gresham College;
• Professor Dawn Oliver, Professor of Constitutional Law, University College London;
• Dr Ian S Peers, Director of Statistics, AstraZeneca;
• Professor John Pickard, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Cambridge, Chairman and Clinical Director Wolson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, Director of Studies for Medical Sciences, St Catharine's College, Cambridge;
• Dr Mark Prescott, Programme Manager, National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research;
• Dr Kenneth Simpson, Scottish Liver Transplantation Unit, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh;
• Dr David Smith, Senior Director, AstraZeneca;
• Sarah Wolfensohn, Head of Department, University of Oxford Veterinary Services

References

• Website of the Animal Procedures Committee
• Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, Home Office

Further reading

• APC's recommendations on the use of primatesPDF (708 KiB), Animal Procedures Committee.
• "Unhappy Anniversary: Twenty years of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986", Animal Aid, retrieved July 15, 2006.