Dstl, which has previously brought in screening providers to help prevent the possibility of recruiting animal welfare activists, still uses almost 700 animals per year in its research, minister says

The objectives of the government agency dedicated to supporting military and defence tech innovation “could not currently be achieved” without using hundreds of animals in laboratory tests each year, a minister has indicated.

Over the course of 2024, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) – an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence – “used 679 animals in procedures” subject to animal-testing regulations, according to Maria Eagle, the MoD’s minister for defence procurement.

Eagle – whose comments were made in response to a written parliamentary question from fellow Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi – said that the military tech facility is not in a position to entirely eliminate the use of animals in its work. But she added that the agency is actively seeking to use fewer animals – and that their use is already prohibited in some of the most dangerous research conducted.

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“The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s remit to provide safe and effective countermeasures for UK Armed Forces could not currently be achieved without some use of animals,” she said. “The Ministry of Defence does not conduct animal experiments for the development or testing of offensive weapons. Dstl is committed to the principles of reduction, replacement and refinement (3Rs) in its use of laboratory animals, and only use animals where no feasible alternative methodologies exist.”

PublicTechnology revealed 18 months ago that Dstl had signed a £100,000 deal for the provision of specialist screening checks try and prevent the possibility of the agency inadvertently hiring animal-rights campaigners.

“Due to the nature of the work undertaken by Dstl, part of the baseline checks has to be animal extremist checks,” the procurement notice said. “These checks are conducted on open source material and is a vital part of the checks carried out to ensure we do not recruit any form of activists into Dstl.”

Headquartered at the Porton Down facility near Salisbury and employing more than 5,000 people, Dstl’s remit is to “find, integrate and fix problems for UK defence and security and provide science and technology solutions for UK sovereign capabilities”, according to its website.