UK Conducts Record Number Of Animal Experiments

by ANC Staff

Outraged animal welfare groups accused the British government of breaking its election pledge to end cruelty to animals, after newly published statistics this month revealed that animal experiments in the UK have reached a record high.

The current Labour government was elected on a manifesto promise to improve animal welfare. But last year, as many as 2.7 million experiments were carried out on animals in British laboratories - the highest level since the government came to power six years ago.

"The fact that there were 2.7 million tests on animals in the UK last year is a disgrace," commented John Robins of Animal Concern. "...Just because a drug has been tested on an animal does not necessarily mean it is safe."

In 2002, according to the statistics, 2.29 million experiments were carried out on rats, mice and rabbits; 191,000 on fish, 136,000 on birds, and 27,300 on dogs, cats, horses or monkeys.

"This shocking rise ... is a shameful reflection of this Government’s utter failure to tackle the controversial issue of animal experiments," said Wendy Higgins of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

In practical terms, the four percent increase in experiments in 2002 means that scientists subjected 300 more dogs, cats, horses and mice to experimental procedures each day, than they had done in previous years.

The statistics reflect a surging wave of experiments on genetically modified (GM) animals. A trend of conducting tests on GM animals has swept the biosciences establishment in recent years, as scientists insert genes from human diseases into animals, in order to observe how the diseases develop.

"I can imagine a lot of unnecessary testing has been going on," said Caroline Chisholm of the National Anti-Vivisection Society.

The number of GM tests carried out doubled to 700,000 last year - a quarter of the total number of experiments.

"A lot of experiments are carried out on what most people would consider household pets. Though the Government says it is less than one per cent, that is still thousands of animals," Chisholm remarked.

According to Home Office figures, 62 percent of the experiments were carried out for "fundamental biological research", and 18 percent for "toxicological safety testing", mostly drug toxicity tests for the pharmaceutical industry.

The Home Office stated that all experiments carried out in 2002 were necessary, that there was no alternative to carrying them out, and that the suffering of all animals was kept to a minimum.

Animal campaigners, however, strongly disagree with the stance taken by the Home Office.

"Animal testing provides big drug companies with insurance," John Robins pointed out, in an article he wrote this week for the Mirror newspaper. "It means they will get a licence and can start to sell their product. It is no guarantee of safety. I would rather see new drugs tested on humans in tiny quantities. You would see plenty of cancer sufferers volunteer. And it would have a guarantee it could be used on humans."

"There are not enough inspectors to police the UK’s 1,000 labs," added Robins. "I believe extreme cruelty is carried out on animals every day while the Government sits back and puts the interests of big drug companies before the welfare of animals in this country."

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.