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Minister
backs new animal testing lab
Science minister Lord Sainsbury has given his backing to a plan
to build a medical research centre which will use animals for
testing.
Speaking on the eve of a planning enquiry into the project,
Lord Sainsbury said the centre was "of national importance".
Cambridge University wants to build the laboratory for scientists
carrying out research into Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's
disease which will involve tests on monkeys.
The project at Girton near the city of Cambridge has come in
for fierce criticism from animal rights campaigners who say
that the facility is unnecessary.
But, speaking on BBC2's Newsnight, Lord Sainsbury said the centre
would be a base for "major research".
"I was asked by the local planning authority what my view
was and whether it was a project of national importance,"
said Lord Sainsbury.
"Clearly it is a project of national importance. It is
doing major research in a key area of science."
The university's application has twice been turned down by South
Cambridgeshire District Council as police expressed concerns
about public safety at the site. The university says the centre
is "vitally important for medical research".
Lord Sainsbury said scientists would have to gain three separate
licences in order to carry out experiments on animals even if
the centre was given planning permission.
He said the system for regulating vivisection in Britain was
one of the toughest in the world and that public opinion was
supportive of vivisection providing it was carried out for medical
research and caused minimal suffering to animals.
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