ANTI-VIVISECTION campaigners say expanding the facility at Grimston flies in the face of an EU directive on animal experimentation.

The Home Office plans to complete the adoption of the new directive, ahead of the timetable, this summer.

Central to it are the three Rs – reduction, refinement and replacement of animal experiments.

But organisations involved in the industry in this country say the UK has among the best regulations in the world and the new directive will create a level playing field for competing institutions in other parts of Europe.

The UK body Understanding Animal Research says the directive will have little impact on the ability of companies to carry out experiments in this country.