Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986

The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, also known as ASPA, is an act promoting animal welfare in the United Kingdom. The act sought to create more government oversight in scientific procedures that could cause distress to animals by requiring licenses.

In May 2000, Minister Mike O'Brien specifically addressed whether the act applied to pet cloning. In response to a request for a statement outlining "what guidelines exist in respect of the use of DNA from pets for future cloning purposes," O'Brien affirmatively responded:

"The cloning of a pet animal would not be a permissible purpose under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 which the Home Office operates. There are, therefore, no guidelines for the use of DNA from companion animals for cloning purposes."

Below is the text from the relevant sections of the act. Annotations are bolded and in the color blue, like so. Annotations were not included in the original text but are added on this webpage to simplify the language of the act or to provide context.

Personal and project licenses

3 Prohibition of unlicensed procedures

No person shall personally apply a regulated procedure to an animal unless— Regulated procedure is defined in a different section. It generally covers procedures on protected animals for scientific/educational purposes that could cause at least as much pain/suffering/distress/lasting harm as inserting a needle under good veterinary practice.

(a) he holds a personal licence qualifying him to apply a regulated procedure of that description to an animal of that description;

(b) the procedure is applied as part of a programme of work specified in a project licence authorising the application, as part of that programme, of a regulated procedure of that description to an animal of that description; and Separate projects require separate licenses. A lab authorized to transfer embryos for research purposes would need separate authorization to perform the same procedure for a pet-cloning service.

(c) the place where the procedure is carried out is a place specified in the project licence. All three conditions are mandatory. The practitioner needs a personal license, project authorization for the project, and the project license must specify the location. A breach of any of the three is a violation/offense.

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5C Determing an application: further provision

(3) A project licence must not be granted unless the Secretary of State has verified that the programme of work to be specified in the licence is to be carried out for one of the following purposes— In 2000, when this list appeared, the Home Office told Parliament that cloning a pet fell outside the Act's permitted purposes. A project whose sole purpose is to clone a customer's pet therefore cannot get the license that section 3(b) requires for its regulated procedures.

(a) basic research;

(b) translational or applied research with one of the following aims—

(i) the avoidance, prevention, diagnosis or treatment of disease, ill-health or other abnormality, or their effects, in man, animals or plants;

(ii) the assessment, detection, regulation or modification of physiological conditions in man, animals or plants; or

(iii) the improvement of the welfare of animals or of the production conditions for animals reared for agricultural purposes;

(c) the development, manufacture or testing of the quality, effectiveness and safety of drugs, foodstuffs and feed-stuffs or any other substances or products, with one of the aims mentioned in paragraph (b); Work by for-profit companies can still receive a license.

(d) the protection of the natural environment in the interests of the health or welfare of man or animals;

(e) research aimed at preserving the species of animal subjected to regulated procedures as part of the programme of work; Cloning for purposes of animal conservation (not just for personal enjoyment/pet cloning) can still be permissible and receive a license.

(f) higher education or training for the acquisition, maintenance or improvement of vocational skills;

(g) forensic inquiries.