National Antivisection Society
Tests rising in UK - Government statistics 2004
Posted: 24 April 2006
The most recent statistics for experiments conducted in UK laboratories were released in late 2005 for the year 2004. Disturbingly, they show that the number of procedures on animals has risen for the third consecutive year and that the current figures are the highest since 1992.
- 2.85 million experiments were carried out on animals in 2004, a rise of 23% on the previous year – 63,000 more experiments.
- 2.78 million animals were used in 2004, an increase of 2.1% on 2003.
- Rodents were used in the majority of procedures (85%), with mice being most frequently used (67%) followed by rats (16%). Next most used were fish (7%), birds (4%), other mammals (not rodents, 4%) and reptiles and amphibians (1%).
- Species which saw an increase in the number of procedures they were used for were, mice (up 102,500), fish (up 20,600), amphibians (up 3,200), sheep (up 2,900), dogs (up 924), hamsters (up 630) and other mammals that weren’t separately categorised in the tables (up 660).
- The number of procedures using non-human primates was 4,208, a decrease of 12% on 2003.
- The number of genetically normal animals used was 1,673,000; a decrease of 4% on 2003.
- Genetically modified animals were used in 914,000 procedures (32%), compared to 27% in 2003.
- Species with a harmful genetic defect were used in 268,000 procedures; that’s 9% of all procedures in 2004. The majority of animals being used were rodents (85%).
- 15% of all procedures were for toxicological purposes. 80% of toxicological procedures use rodents, 11% use fish, 4% use rabbits, 2% use birds and 4% use other species. Other species used included 5,800 dogs and 3,200 non-human primates.
- 815 “other carnivores” were experimented on . This included badgers, mink and seals.
Primates
Although there was a decrease in the number of procedures carried out on non-human primates overall, there was an increase in the number of toxicology procedures using new world primates (marmosets, tamarins etc.). Only 36% of the procedures performed on non-human primates used animals acquired from designated sources in the UK; therefore the remaining 64% must have been acquired from other sources abroad. This raises additional welfare issues concerning their origin and transportation.
The Home Office also admits that ‘many primates are reused’; they claim this is because many of the procedures in which they are involved are only of mild effect for which anaesthesia is not required.
Genetically modified animals
The number of genetically normal animals being used in UK laboratories is declining whilst the number of genetically modified animals is steadily rising.
In 1995 genetically modified animals accounted for 8% of the procedures, now, in 2004, they account for nearly a third of all procedures (32%).
Primates, dogs, cats and horses
These animals are granted special protection under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986, and in theory should only be used if no other species is suitable for the procedure, or if these animals can not be obtained. Despite this, the number of such animals used rose from 9,100 in 2003 to 9,200 in 2004. This increase is mainly due to an increase in the use of dogs.
Toxicological procedures
70% of toxicological procedures are for pharmacological, safety and efficiency evaluation, followed by safety evaluation of substances used in industry (8%), agriculture (6.5%) and evaluation of environmental pollution (7%). Compared to 2003 the use of mice in toxicological procedures rose by 6.5%.
Non-toxicological procedures
There’s a 10% increase in non-toxicological procedures since 1995. The main areas of use are immunological studies, pharmaceutical research and development anatomy and cancer research.
Physical trauma procedures
Procedures that are acknowledged to cause ‘physical trauma’ have increased by a massive 45% or 16,577. Such procedures include tissue repair studies, pain and other neuronal injury studies. It is stated that the majority of such procedures involve mainly rodents, and this is a common so called justification used to back up any rise in numbers of procedures or animals, as if to say that the increase is acceptable because the species concerned was a rodent. In fact, rodents are known to suffer in the same way as any other species kept in a laboratory environment and they are just as capable of feeling the pain inflicted on them during experiments.
Anaesthesia
In only 40% of all procedures some form of anaesthesia was used to alleviate the suffering involved. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 states that anaesthetics don’t have to be used if their use is incompatible with the objective of the procedure, or if the procedure is considered to be of mild effect to the animal. Anaesthesia use without recovery was used in 269,000 procedures, which is 9.4% of the total of procedures and an increase of 3,100 from 2003.
Overbreeding
It is important to note that the published statistics exclude all the millions of animals that are bred as part of the vivisection industry but are considered ‘surplus to requirements’ and therefore killed without experimentation. Although these animals have not been involved in any scientific procedure, their existence is still significant in terms of welfare (they are still bred and housed within the restrictions of a laboratory environment and subject to the same handling and husbandry techniques as the animals involved in procedures).
Data collected by NAVS has indicated that at least two animals are killed as surplus to requirements for every animals experimented on. This adds 5.56 million more animals to the annual UK laboratory death toll.
