by According to new data, the number of tests conducted on live animals fell by three percent last year.
Across the UK, 2.68 million scientific procedures were carried out on animals in 2023 – a decrease from 2.76 million in 2022 – which is the lowest number since 2001.
Data from the Ministry of the Interior show that the number of experimental procedures (1.47 million) decreased by 3% and the number of production and breeding procedures also decreased by 3% compared to the previous year.
As the figures for England, Scotland and Wales show, experimental tests accounted for around 55% of all procedures in 2023.
The vast majority (95%) of procedures used mice, fish, birds or rats, and these animals have been the most commonly used for over a decade.
According to the data, procedures on specially protected species – cats, dogs, horses and non-human primates – accounted for 1.2 percent of experimental procedures in 2023.
Twenty-one dogs were used to create and breed genetically modified (GA) animals.
The experimental procedures were carried out for the purposes of basic research and treatment development as well as for safety testing of drugs and other substances.
About 52% of the experimental procedures were used for basic research. The three most important research areas were the nervous system, the immune system and cancer.
Dr Mark Down, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Biology, said: “The advancement of the life sciences and the development of biomedical treatments for humans and animals alike will require the regulated use of animals in science for the foreseeable future.”
“Animal testing remains a small but important part of biomedical research aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of infectious diseases or non-communicable diseases such as multiple sclerosis, stroke or dementia or testing potential new treatments.”
In certain circumstances, some animals are used more than once, so that the number of procedures performed in a year does not correspond to the number of animals used.
Looking at individual countries, the number of operations in England and Scotland fell by 3% and 2% respectively last year.
The number of procedures performed in Wales has decreased by 19% compared to 2022.
Understanding Animal Research (UAR), an organization that promotes open communication on the issue, said animal testing is a small but important part of research into new drugs, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals.
According to the UAR, ten organisations were responsible for more than half (54%) of all animal testing in the UK last year.
These included the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the Francis Crick Institute, UCL, the University of Edinburgh, the Medical Research Council, the University of Manchester, King’s College London, the University of Glasgow and Imperial College London.
The ten institutes listed were responsible for 1,435,009 procedures. More than 99% of these procedures were performed on mice, fish and rats, and in 82% of cases the pain was rated as comparable to or less than that of an injection.
Wendy Jarrett, executive director of UAR, which developed the Concordat on Openness, said: “Animal testing remains a small but crucial part of the search for new drugs, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals.
“Alternative methods are gradually being introduced, but until sufficient reliable alternatives are available, it is important that organizations that use animals in research maintain public trust in them.
“By providing information on this scale about the number of animals used and the experiences of those animals, as well as details of the medical breakthroughs resulting from this research, the signatories of the Concordat are helping the public to form their own views on the use of animals in scientific research in the UK.”
Dr Julia Baines, science policy manager at PETA, said: “There is simply no excuse for subjecting rats, dogs, mice and other animals – who feel fear, pain and loneliness just like we do – to experiments in which their exposed brains are treated with chemicals that induce fever and trigger seizures.
“State-of-the-art non-animal testing methods, such as organ-on-chips, are widely available and continuing to use animal testing is not only barbaric but also irresponsible.
“Despite decades of misleading the public into believing that the previous administration was serious about reducing, improving and replacing the use of animals in laboratories, it did not go nearly far enough.”
