Shocking new statistics show big rise in dog, monkey and rabbit tests as government ignores public outcry
Yesterday the Home Office released the annual statistics for the number of animal experiments in the UK in 2018. In total over 3.5 million experiments on animals took place down from 3.7 million in 2017.
Whilst we are pleased that the overall figure is down by 7%, we think it’s time the government did more to recognise the shift in attitudes towards animal testing in the UK and stepped up efforts to replace the use of animals in research. According to an Ipsos MORI poll published in May two thirds of UK citizens (66%) are concerned about animals in laboratories.
Yesterday’s statistics reveal that the number of UK dog experiments is up by 16% from the previous year (2017) and the number of experiments on monkeys is up by 8%. This is a shocking increase, considering 86% of the UK public are against testing on dogs and 86% are against testing on monkeys, even if it benefits human health.
Like the majority of UK citizens, we are very concerned about the number of animal tests conducted in the UK. Not only are they cruel, but they are increasingly shown to be ineffective. We believe it’s the government’s responsibility to listen to the British people, and drastically increase their efforts to reduce the number of animal experiments and replace them with humane, more effective, alternatives.
Dr Katy Taylor, our Director of Science and Regulatory Affairs, said: “The UK is a nation of dog lovers, yet thousands of experiments on dogs take place every year. There is little scientific evidence that experiments on dogs are beneficial to human health. With the latest survey results showing that the UK public want an end to tests on animals, there is no excuse for this shocking increase in dog experiments. The UK should be leading the way in reducing these tests and we urge the government to do more to help end the suffering of dogs and other animals in UK laboratories by moving towards more humane and reliable non-animal alternatives.”
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Key figures from the 2018 Home Office statistics:
- In 2018, a total of 3.52 million experiments were completed. Approximately 1.7 million (49%) were related to the 'creation' and breeding of genetically altered animals, who were not used in further experiments while the remaining 1.80 million (51%) were used in experiments.
- Of the 3.52 million experiments completed in 2018, a staggering 18% (643,142) were assessed as having caused moderate or severe suffering to the animals involved.
- Experiments completed on dogs were up 16% on the previous year (4,481 up from 3,847) while experiments completed on monkeys went up 8% (3,207 in 2018 compared to 2,960 in 2017) and experiments on rabbits went up 8% (11,159 from 10,362).