Animal research forms a small but essential part of the work undertaken at Queen Mary. It enables our researchers to make medical advances in areas such as cancer research, heart disease, and transplantation medicine. We only undertake such research when there are no non-animal alternatives available.
It’s a legal requirement in the UK that all medicines must be tested in at least two species of live animals before they are used in humans.
Queen Mary is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare. We do our utmost to ensure that our animals live in a healthy, stimulating environment and our staff undertake stringent checks each day to make sure our animals receive the best possible care.
The use of animals in research is very carefully regulated.
Any research facility that wants to undertake animal research in the UK must also apply to the Home Office for a licence and must have an Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Board (AWERB) to oversee the application of that licence.
Permission to use animals in procedures is only granted if researchers make a successful application to their institution’s Animal Welfare & Ethical Review Body (AWERB).
We minimise the use of animals in our work as much as we can.
We set ourselves the highest ethical standards. Some of our work involves working with animals when there is no other alternative. We believe it is important to be open and transparent about this work.
There are a lot of questions asked about the use of animals in research – and a lot of misconceptions.
Every licence-holding research facility has to send the Home Office annual returns of how animals are used in its research. Below, you can see the returns we’ve sent over the past years: