The number of animals used in scientific procedures in Great Britain increased by 3.3% last year, culminating in a seven-year high of 2.66 million animals, according to the British government's 2002 report on animals used. The annual reports are more informative than comparable reports in the United States.
Britain's report revealed a number of other disturbing trends. There was a 45% increase in the use of techniques causing physical trauma, an 11% increase in the number of procedures using genetically modified animals, a 43% increase in experiments for household products, and a 29% increase in agricultural toxicology experiments. While the statistics report the number of procedures or experiments rather the number of animals used, animal numbers would show similar trends, given that one procedure is roughly equivalent to one animal.
There was also a 5% increase in experiments with no anesthetic, resulting in 60% of the total number of procedures not using anesthetic. The report contends, however, that many of the procedures that fall into this category are benign and that the use of anesthetic would add to the animal's distress.
Wendy Higgins, of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), pointed out that the government report does not take into account the millions of animals bred for research who are killed as "surplus to requirements" or as "non-conforming products." Higgins also noted that the numbers do not reflect those animals "killed purely for blood, tissue or organ products, as well as in military experiments, or animals enduring long-term experiments that straddle more than one year." If those lives were included, she said, the numbers "would increase by millions."
Animal protectionists in Great Britain are also concerned that the government did not meet its pledge to increase the number of laboratory inspectors by five (only three were added).
Sources: Home Office Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals 2002 (Great Britain) and The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (see www.buav.org/home/latestnews.html#stats)
