The number of scientific procedures carried out on animals rose by 6% last year to just over 3.2m. The vast majority (83%) used rodents, while the number of procedures that involved monkeys was down 6% with 3,125 monkeys being used in total.
The overall increase is due largely to the continued trend for researchers to use more genetically modified mice and fish in experiments. Creating GM animals involves two steps of breeding and these animals are counted in the figures as having undergone a scientific "procedure". In 2007, 1.15m GM animals were used, a rise of 11% on the previous year. Over a third of all procedures in 2007 were breeding animals.
"As the volume of medical research increases, which we all want to see, then the overall volume of legitimate and useful animal experiments will increase despite steps taken to minimise their use," said Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris, who is a strong supporter of the regulated use of animals in scientific research. He welcomed the use of more GM animals because he said this was a refinement that would make animal use more relevant to human diseases.
Iain Simpson of the Oxford group Pro-Test agreed: "We view the increase in the use of transgenic animals used as especially positive as it shows that academics are continuing to use innovative new methods to find cures for life threatening diseases."
The figures, which were released by the Home Office this morning, show that 83% of procedures used rats, mice and other rodents, 10% used fish and 4% used birds.
The number of procedures carried out on dogs was up 600 (9%) while the number carried out on cats dropped by 216 (41%) and the number of cattle procedures was down 2000 (39%). Genetically normal animals were used in 1.73 million regulated procedures (54% of the total), up 5% on the 2006 figures.
Full Story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jul/21/animal.experiments
