The European Animal Research Association (EARA) has welcomed the publication of the first comprehensive statistics, from across the European Union (EU) on all uses of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research.
The headline figures in the EU report show that the total number of animals used in the EU in 2017 was 9,388,162 – the equivalent figure in 2016 was 9,817,946. More than 92% of the total were mice, fish, rats and birds, whereas dogs, cats and monkeys, account for around 0.25% of the total.
The total is made up of animals used in basic and applied research, and regulatory studies aimed at ensuring the safety of medicines and other products, routine production and education and training.
Some examples of the most recent uses of animals in research, and their benefits to human health, are also released today: Belgium (anthrax), France (eye disease), Germany (malaria), Italy (epilepsy), Netherlands (heart disease), Portugal (diabetes, skin cancer) and Spain (lung disease).
EARA executive director, Kirk Leech, said: “The European biomedical sector is committed to transparency and openness on the use of animals in research and this is another step towards that.
Using animals as a research model is often the only way to develop new treatments and an understanding of the human body, and we congratulate the European Commission for making these numbers public.”
EARA, is the voice of the biomedical sector on issues relating to European animal research, working across Europe to promote greater openness and transparency. There are now Transparency Agreements in Belgium, Portugal, Spain and the UK, involving around 300 institutions.
The statistics for individual EU countries in 2017 were also released with UK (1,839,079), Germany (1,793,299) and France (1,757,837) the top three countries for animal use. Since supplying their figures to the EU, some countries, including Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and UK have also published statistics for 2018 (see also Notes to Editors below).
Separate figures were also produced to record the number of animals that were bred but not used in experiments, which was 12,597,816 across the EU. These can be animals that underwent no procedures themselves; that were the wrong gender for a particular research study; or were a necessary surplus from breeding. There was also a figure for animals used for the creation and maintenance of genetically altered animal lines (1,276,587).
Most of the medicines we have come from animal research. Often science doesn’t need to use animals, but for many key questions they are crucial.
Animals are used alongside several other techniques such as cell cultures, human studies and computational models. These methods are used – often in tandem – to answer the key biological questions necessary to understand and treat disease. Before an animal model is selected, researchers must show that the knowledge could not be acquired using non-animal methods.
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Notes to editors
Animal research is strictly regulated under the EU Directive 2010/63. Every procedure, from a simple blood test to major surgery, requires individual, establishment and project licences, as well as approval from animal welfare and ethical review bodies.
All organisations are committed to the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible; minimising the number of animals used per experiment and optimising the experience of the animals to improve animal welfare. However, as institutions expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study.
Since 2013, it has been illegal to sell or import cosmetics anywhere in the EU where the finished product or its ingredients have been tested on animals.
Dogs are currently being used to develop treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a debilitating muscle wasting disease that has no cure and ultimately leads to early death.
Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) have a prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain involved in cognitive behaviour. This means that NHPs can help scientists understand how the brain works and help us develop treatments for neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and OCD.
Why can’t these statistics be compared to previous reports from the old legislation?
These new EU reports were developed to provide significantly more detailed and tailored information on animal use. Moreover, the new reports cover areas of animal use that were not included in the reports under the previous legislation. They also include aspects of animal use, which have not previously been available, for example, on the genetic status of animals and the actual severity experienced by the animals during their use in procedures. In terms of numbers, some uses of animals, which were previously grouped together, are now covered by different sections of this report.
As errors are being detected and consistency improved, it is clear that some of the fluctuations in numbers, or even what may seem to appear as trends at this early stage, may indeed instead be due to improved understanding of the reporting obligations. For these same reasons it is too early to draw conclusions on any firm trends on the basis of the first three years of data.
About EARA
The European Animal Research Association (EARA) is an organisation that communicates and advocates for biomedical research using animals and provides accurate, evidence-based information. It has more than 80 partner organisations, including private and public research bodies, universities, regional and national biomedical associations and suppliers, across 17 European countries.
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