Animal Rights Encyclopedia - Laboratory

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Laboratory - Experimental Animals

Summary

Estimates of the total number of animals people use for experimenting on range between 40 million and 100 million animals (Table 1).
Japan and United States use more experimental animals than all other countries combined (Table 1).
Six countries using the largest numbers of experimental animals are Japan, United States, Britain, Canada, France and Germany (Table 1).
These six countries combined use around half the experimental animals worldwide (Table 1).
Over 2.6 million animals are used as experimental animals in Britain annually (Table 2).
Of experimental animals in Britain 80 per cent are rodents, ten per cent are fish, five per cent are birds, three per cent are mammals and less than one per cent are reptiles and amphibians (Table 2).
Experimenters in Britain annually carry out over 2.7 million experiments (procedures) on animals (taking 2000 as a typical year) (Table3).

Estimates for the number of experimental animals or laboratory animals are rough because some countries keep incomplete or no records. The United States for one does not count certain animals, many of them rats and mice. Some reports state that the US uses 18 million to 23 million animals per year.

Britain may keep more reliable and detailed data than any other country on numbers, species and the purpose experimental animals are put to. Some of these details are set out below. Britain is said to have the most stringent laws concerning laboratory animals. However, this strength is only relative to other countries.

Number of Experimental Animals Worldwide, 2000

Table 1. Number of Experimental (Laboratory) Animals. The Six Highest-using Countries & Worldwide, for 2000.
Japan	12,000,000+
United States	12,000,000+
Britain	2 - 3,000,000
Canada	2 - 3,000,000
France	2 - 3,000,000
Germany	2 - 3,000,000
Worldwide	40,000,000 to 100,000,000

Figures are from a number of sources.

Number and Kind of Experimental Animals in Britain, 2000

Table 2. Number and Kind of Experimental Animals in Britain in 2000
Kind of Animal	Number of Animals	Percentage of Total
Mice	1,605,722	60
Rats	524,168	20
Other rodents (eg hamsters & guinea-pigs)	69,799	3
Rabbits	27,389	1
Cats	613	< 0.1
Dogs	4,745	< 1
Ferrets	1,358	< 0.1
Other carnivores	663	< 0.1
Horses & donkeys	452	< 0.1
Pigs	8,326	< 1
Goats	325	< 0.1
Sheep	16,078	< 1
Cattle	6,801	< 1
Deer	160	< 0.1
Primates (eg macaques & marmosets)	2,951	< 1
Other mammals	457	< 0.1
Birds	120,505	4
Reptiles	63	< 0.1
Amphibians	9,661	< 1
Fish	242,757	9
Total	2,642,993	100

The source for these figures is Statistics of Scientific Procedures 1987-00. Home Office.

Number of Procedures on Experimental Animals in Britain

Britain is said to keep more reliable and detailed data on animals used for experimental purposes than any other country. Laboratories used over five million experimental animals per year in Britain in the mid-1970's. The number dropped to 2.7 million in 1996 and stayed around that figure for several years. Table 3 shows the annual number of procedures by main purpose, a procedure being a single experiment on one animal. Because the same animal might undergo more than one experiment, the total number of procedures is greater than the total number of experimental animals (in Table 2). Around the year 2000 laboratories in Britain no longer made use of animals for testing cosmetics ingredients, finished products, or alcohol and tobacco products, and the use of chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans was proscribed.

Table 3. Number of Procedures on Experimental Animals in Britain in 2000.
Main Purpose	Number of Procedures	Percentage
Medicine	929,700	34
Research	872,800	32
Breeding	699,600	26
Toxicity testing	161,200	6
Education & Other	51,400	2
Total	2,714,700	100

The source for these figures is Statistics of Scientific Procedures 1987-00. Home Office.

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Page revised Nov 2010.
Web site established Nov 2009.

Laboratory - Experimental Animals

Summary

Table 1. Number of Experimental (Laboratory) Animals. The Six Highest-using Countries & Worldwide, for 2000.

Figures are from a number of sources.

Table 2. Number and Kind of Experimental Animals in Britain in 2000

The source for these figures is Statistics of Scientific Procedures 1987-00. Home Office.

Table 3. Number of Procedures on Experimental Animals in Britain in 2000.

The source for these figures is Statistics of Scientific Procedures 1987-00. Home Office.

Table 1. Number of Experimental (Laboratory) Animals.
The Six Highest-using Countries & Worldwide, for 2000.