Dr Hadwen Trust: New research reveals 115 million animals used in experiments worldwide

The Dr Hadwen Trust and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) have collaborated on a major new initiative to produce the first ever statistical analysis of global animal research numbers, the results of which have been published in peer-reviewed journal ATLA [1].

Our research reveals that an estimated 115 million animals are used in laboratory experiments around the world each year. However even this massive figure could be an underestimate due to the way figures are compiled, and may be as high as 150+million.

Despite widespread public and political interest in animal research worldwide, our research reveals that a mere 21% of countries (37 out of 179 countries) actually collect data on their national animal experiments. For the rest, no official record is kept of the animals used in their laboratories or the suffering that they might have endured.

We reached our total of 115 million animals by using available official data as our starting point – 50 million animals from 37 countries that do publish official figures. We then developed a statistical model based on animal research publication rates for countries with no official data, which added a further 8 million animals from 142 countries. We also included those animals used in laboratories but excluded from most statistics, such as genetically modified animals bred to maintain colonies, animals killed as surplus to requirements and those killed for tissue samples. These animals are still bred for scientific purposes, live in a laboratory environment their entire lives and are killed at the end of their ‘use’ and yet most countries don’t record them at all. These ‘missing’ animals were estimated to add a staggering 57 million to the global total, bringing it to 115 million animals [2].

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The extraordinary lack of official figures for the majority of countries is a major cause for concern. Without publicly available, accurate statistics on laboratory animal use, it is impossible to have a truly open and honest public debate about this highly controversial subject. It is also impossible to monitor progress or otherwise on replacing animal use in particular areas, and to take governments to account.

For those countries that do record statistics, there are also unacceptable crucial omissions. For example in Britain, animals killed as surplus or for their tissues are not counted. If they were, the Home Office’s official figure of just over three million animals would increase to over 5 million animals [3]. In the USA, even basic accurate recording would increase official statistics of just over one million animals to a shocking 34 million, because they currently exclude 93% of animals used – all birds, rats, mice, fish, amphibians and reptiles.

The Dr Hadwen Trust and BUAV say “It is shocking that so few countries consider it important even to count the number of animals suffering in their laboratories. It is impossible to have a clear and honest debate about the role of animal experiments in the 21st century when the official number of animals involved is outrageously underestimated. It means that a huge amount of animal suffering is simply being ignored, and efforts to replace animal research with more modern techniques are being hampered. Vivisection is considered one of the most controversial uses of animals, so it’s about time that governments around the world, including our own, brought the truth into the open.”

By using the estimations contained in our published research, it is also possible for the first time to estimate the number of each animal species used in laboratories around the world.

A selection of estimated global laboratory animal percentages by species [4]

“For the first time we can start to piece together a global picture of animal experimentation,” say the Dr Hadwen Trust and BUAV “and the scale of animal suffering is truly staggering. With so much known about the remarkable sentiency of non-human primates, the fact that we subject nearly 90,000 monkeys to experiments every year is a devastating statistic.”

The Dr Hadwen Trust and the BUAV would like to see action taken to ensure that all countries that experiment on animals collect and publish reliable and accurate annual statistics on their animal use. The ‘missing millions’ of animals must also be accounted for by ensuring that all categories of animals bred and used in the laboratory in any way are included in statistics.

Email info@drhadwentrust.org for a PDF of the ATLA article.

Notes

[1] Taylor K., Gordon N., Langley G., Higgins W. (2008) Estimates for Worldwide Laboratory Animal Use in 2005. Alternatives to Laboratory Animals (ATLA), 36(3):327-342.
[2] Of the 37 countries which publish data, only one included statistics on animals killed as surplus to requirements, and one official survey of surplus animals was found; only two countries included GM animals used to maintain a breeding colony and only six countries included animals killed for their tissues. Using the available data, the authors calculated that if added to the totals, these missing categories would increase numbers by the following range: GM: 0.7%-33.7%; surplus: 38.2%-80.3% and tissue: 2.4%-50.1%.
[3] Based on the UK’s own estimate of the percentage of surplus animals (80.3%), plus our estimate for the number of animals used for tissues and biological products (21.1%) we estimate that the UK currently does not record nearly 3 million laboratory animals and that the ‘true’ estimate may be an effective doubling (from their published figure in 2005 of 2.8 million animals) to 5.6 million animals if these were to be included.
[4] Included are those species of animals for whom there is sufficient available comparative data on which to draw an average across the European Union, Japan and the United States, with the exception of rodents. As the USA does not record rodent data, we have based our rodent estimation on the EU and Japan plus an extrapolation for the missing millions of rodents bred as surplus, used in GM breeding or for tissue supply.