Dunne rules out controversial animal drug test
Hon Peter Dunne
Associate Minister of Health
Sunday 2 December 2012
Media Release
Dunne rules
out controversial animal drug
test
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne
has ruled out the controversial LD50 animal test as part of
the pending psychoactive substances testing regime, and said
no decisions have been made on whether animal testing will
be needed at all.
“And no decisions will be made
without consultation with other ministries and appropriate
ethics committee consideration,” Mr Dunne
said.
“At this point, the Health Ministry is
actively working on finding alternatives to animal testing
wherever possible, including to the controversial LD50 test
which I will not allow to be part of any
regime.
LD50 is a test where doses of a tested drug
are given to a sample group of animals until half of the
test group dies.
“Frankly, it is a horrible test.
No one wants it. We are aware that other jurisdictions have
moved away from it, and I expect New Zealand officials to
look at what alternatives are possible as we construct this
regime,” Mr Dunne said.
He said, however, that
the regime may require some animal testing to make sure the
substances are safe.
“Human safety is the
paramount consideration, but in achieving that, we follow
the 3-R protocol which mean reducing animal testing ,
refining it whenever we have to use it, and replacing it
whenever we can.”
Mr Dunne said he has a great
deal of sympathy with the view that it is sad to test legal
highs on animals, as opposed to testing of a necessary
medicine.
“I understand that, but I think we
would see very different questions if we do not test these
products and someone dies.
Mr Dunne said he found
the Greens criticism of the testing on animals “ironic in
the extreme”.
“They need to take a long look at
their own unrelenting pro-drug history.
“The
Greens do not have a leg to stand on in this debate. They
have never met a drug they didn’t like and attempted to
support through Parliament.
“It is beyond rich
for them to come out asking who is looking after the animals
when the question that needs to be put to the Greens is who
is looking after young New Zealanders?
“The
Greens are New Zealand’s pro-drug party,” Mr Dunne
said.
ENDS