Comment: A Critique of the Animal Procedures Committee Report on Biotechnolog

Elizabeth S. Jenkins and Robert D. Combes

A review of the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 by the Animal Procedures Committee (APC) ten years after it had been implemented, revealed concerns about new and emerging biotechnologies. Respondents to the consultation exercise expressed worries, in particular, about embryo manipulation, genetic modification, and cloning. The APC Working Group questioned whether current and future developments in biotechnology pose a particular challenge to the operation of the Act, and it proposed that a separate working group be established to consider this matter.