Standing Up for Animal Welfare: Will Forster Responds to Calls to End Animal Testing

Will has written the below response to many constitents who have gotten in contact with him about ending animal testing. 

Here is his response below:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the parliamentary petition on ending animal testing, particularly the use of dogs in toxicity studies. I appreciate you taking the time to raise this important issue with me and for sharing the briefing document.
 
Liberal Democrats are staunch supporters of high animal welfare standards, and I share your concerns about the use of animals in scientific experimentation. I have a dog myself, and the detail you go into rends my heart. We firmly believe that the use of animals in research should be minimised wherever possible, and we support increased funding for research into viable alternatives. During the Coalition Government, we successfully introduced a ban on animal testing for household products, and we remain committed to further progress in this area.
 
The secrecy surrounding the use of animals in testing is deeply concerning, and I align myself with the public’s growing support for greater transparency and ethical alternatives. The Lib Dems strongly opposed the unnecessary deaths of animals caused by duplicated testing following Brexit, and we believe that the principle of animal sentience should be fully enshrined in UK law to maintain high welfare standards in our country.
 
Thank you again for reaching out. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have further information to share or if you would like to discuss this issue in more detail. I hope this gets debated in Parliament, if so, I will do my best to attend.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Will

Will Forster MP
Member of Parliament for Woking