Animal Experiments Increase Again

New figures show that the United Kingdom increased use of animals in research by 3% between 2009 and 2010, an increase of 105,000 animals. This is due largely to increases in the use of mice and fish and the growth of breeding genetically modified (GM) animals and harmful mutants, which are animals that potentially have harmful genetic defects.

Selected findings:

• There was a 3% increase in the number of animals used in research from 2009 to 2010, but a 6% increase in the number of fish and mice.
• The number of procedures to breed GM and harmful mutant animals rose from 87,000 in 2009 to 1.6 million in 2010.
• Two-thirds of genetically modified animals are not used in experiments, but are used to maintain breeding stocks or develop genetic crosses.