The number of experiments started on animals in Great Britain has topped 4 million for the first time in over thirty years.
In 2012, 4.03 million animals were used for the first time in a total of 4.11 million scientific procedures – an increase of eight per cent (+317,200 procedures) over 2011.
The rise was mainly due to a 22 per cent (+363,100) increase in the breeding of genetically modified (GM) animals and harmful mutants (HM), mainly mice, to 1.98 million procedures – nearly half (48%) of the total number of procedures performed. Excluding the breeding of GM and HM animals, the total number of procedures decreased by two per cent (-46,000) to 2.13 million procedures.
For the first time, the number of procedures involving GM animals (1.91 million) was greater than the number performed on normal animals (1.68 million).
The numbers of procedures increased in 2012 for the following species: mice (+379,058 or +14%); sheep (+5,157 or +14%); goats (+1,462 or +746%), up from 196; guinea pigs (+1,203 or +10%). There were 4,643 procedures using dogs, compared with 4,552 in 2011, and the number of dogs used increased from 2,865 to 3,124; 202 cats were used in 247 procedures, compared with 135 cats used in 235 procedures last year. The total number of procedures using non-human primates increased by 545 (+22%) to 3,553 and the number of animals used also rose by 727 to 2,186. There were falls for the following species: fish (-63,073 or -11%); amphibians (-2,218 or -14%); rabbits (-1,595 or -10%); and pigs (-961 or -22%).
The numbers of procedures for safety testing (toxicology) fell by six per cent (-22,100) to 377,000, while the number of non-toxicology procedures increased by ten per cent (+339,200) to 3.73 million. There were rises for research in anatomy, cancer, genetics, ecology and biochemistry, and a striking increase of 425% (79,300 procedures) in nutrition research.
There were falls in the fields of physiology, pharmaceutical research and pharmacology.
The Home Office annual report on the use of animals in science is also published today, revealing that government inspectors dealt with 157 compliance issues in 2012. There were 131 reports of compliance advice given (for example, to improve the fabric of a building, update records of a project licence, or ensure a cage label was fully completed), while 26 cases of non-compliance were investigated.
Sixteen of the 26 cases were self-reported while Inspectors uncovered the remaining10 cases. In one case, due to a dosing miscalculation, 2,730 birds received an overdose of a compound that resulted in the project exceeding the permitted protocol severity limit. One bird died and 28 were culled on humane grounds. In another case, an inspector discovered that five rats had undergone spinal surgery two weeks earlier, but there was no indication that post-operative analgesia had been given. The personal licence holder admitted that this was an “oversight” on his part.
One of the three Category C infringements involved failure to feed recently weaned stock mice at an establishment for a period of nine days although water was available throughout. Four of these animals were found dead, while one was humanely killed. In another case, an individual changed documentation in order to continue procedures beyond the expiry date of the project licence; and in the third case, mice were killed incompetently and records were not adequately kept.
Call for greater openness
While these statistics give an insight into the scale of animal use in Great Britain’s laboratories, it remains extremely difficult for researchers to tease out the true nature of the procedures, due to the secrecy provision within the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Section 24 of the Act makes it a criminal offence to disclose confidential information and even acts as a bar to sharing “good practice” among labs.
Following the European Directive on the use of animals in scientific procedures in 2010, member states are supposed to ensure transparency but s.24 continues to block access to information. OneKind and other animal welfare groups are calling for s.24 to be deleted from the Act or at least amended so that it focuses on openness, rather than secrecy. The Home Office has opened a review of the legislation, to which OneKind is contributing.
Full statistical reports
The Home Office reports are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-of-scientific-procedures-on-living-animals-great-britain-2012
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animals-in-science-regulation-unit-annual-report-2012