In the news
5 Jul 2008
8 November 2007
New statistics: Britain still animal testing capital of Europe
Latest statistics published by the European Commission1 hide the fact that Britain still experiments on more animals than any other EU member state, despite Home Office assurances that animals are only used when absolutely necessary. Charity campaigners the Dr Hadwen Trust say Britain’s record as the animal testing capital of Europe is shameful and should be a wake-up call for urgent action.
The Commission reported that across Europe a total of 12.1 million animal experiments are conducted each year. Although discrepancies in the way the Commission collates statistics put Britain second lead behind France, closer analysis by the Dr Hadwen Trust reveals that in fact Britain remains at the top of the league table with 3 million animal experiments2 . Europe’s combined laboratory animal use has increased by 3.2% since 20023 with no trend of decline and the use of supposedly protected species such as non-human primates remains unacceptably high.
“It is to our shame that Britain remains the animal testing capital of Europe.” says the Dr Hadwen Trust’s Wendy Higgins, “This is a sad indictment of the government’s utter failure to reduce laboratory animal suffering. Home Office assurances that animals are only used when absolutely necessary ring hollow when in the 21st century we still kill more animals in laboratories than any other European country.”
League table of shame
EU statistics for 2005:
EU total: 12.1 million animals. Britain: 1.87 million. France: 2.3 million. Germany 1.8 million.
But the more comprehensive national statistics reveal:
Britain (2005): 2.81 million*. France (2004): 2.3 million. Germany (2005): 2.4 million.
(*this rose to 2.95 million animals in 2006)
Other statistics of interest:
Total primates: 10,394 (top user France with 3,789)
- new world monkeys increased by 31%
- old world monkeys increased by 1%
- total primates increased by 0.3%
Total dogs: 22,000, increased by 4.2% (top user France with 5,500)
Total cats: 3,600, decreased by 4.8%
Largest increase: hamsters by 41%
Total mice: 6 million
Notable increases by country: Spain by 127%; Greece & Sweden both by 80%
Notable decreases by country: Finland by 60%; Ireland by 27%
The statistics are launched in the wake of the revision of Europe’s 20 year old ‘animal testing law’, Directive 86/609/EEC. The Directive4 has long been criticised for being out of date, missing out large areas of laboratory animal use and even failing to provide the basic ‘3Rs principle’ protection that animals must not be used where alternatives exist. The Dr Hadwen Trust, which is petitioning the European Parliament to take more action on replacing animal experiments, says it’s time for things to change5 .
“We hear a lot of rhetoric in Europe about commitment to replacing animal experiments with alternative methods, but the figures speak for themselves.” says Ms Higgins “With over 12 million laboratory animals still dying, this is a wake-up call to European politicians that urgent action is needed. We need a Europe-wide strategy for replacing animal experiments with more advanced, reliable, human-relevant research techniques. There is enormous expertise and potential amongst Europe’s non-animal research scientists, so now is the time for politicians, animal welfarists and scientists to get together and map out a targeted time-table for replacing animal experiments.”
Notes
1 Fifth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union {COM (2007) 675 final} PDF report here.
2 As Britain includes GM breeding animals, which the Commission does not, we use the Home Office’s published statistics of 23 July 2007 which revealed Britain’s 2006 animal use at a 15 year high at 3 million procedures using 2.95 million animals. Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals – Great Britain, 2006. Download here. . A direct comparison between France’s 2004 total and Britain’s 2004 total (2.3million and 2.78 million respectively) still indicates that Britain is at the top of the league table.
3 The 2002 statistics recording figures for 15 member states. The 2005 statistics are for 25 member states. If we compare statistics for the same 15 member states the increase is 3.2%. If we compare the total 2002 figure (for 15 member states) with the 2005 figure (for 25 member states) the increase is 13%. The 10 new member states combined only account for 8.6% of the total animal experiments.
4 Council Directive 86/609/EEC of 24 November 1986 on the approximation of laws and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. The Commission will produce a proposal (expected Dec 2007) which will be sent to the European Parliament and the Council to undergo co-decision procedure (due to start early 2008 and lasting approximately two years.)
5 The petition has been launched by the Dr Hadwen Trust, Europe’s leading non-animal medical research charity, and is being supported by leading animal advocacy groups in countries across Europe including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, UK, Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Croatia. The petition can be viewed here.
