Blog written by Claire Hamlett, a freelance journalist and contributor

2022 animal experiment statistics

The number of animal experiments being performed in the UK has fallen to its lowest since 2002, the latest government statistics show. A 10% decrease in the number of procedures since the previous year brings the total to 2.76 million, with most of these having used mice, fish, birds or rats. Just over half of the procedures were experimental, meaning they used animals to test the safety of substances, try out new medical treatments, or to “expand our knowledge of the structure, functioning and behaviour of living organisms and the environment.” The rest involved breeding genetically altered animals to keep a steady supply of subjects for experimental procedures.

While the drop in procedures (which is not the same as the number of animals used, since some will be used in more than one procedure) might seem like good news and part of a larger trend of declining use of animals in labs, there is still a worryingly high number of experiments being carried out which are not only cruel but also of highly questionable ‘medical value’.

Experiments causing severe pain and killing animals

The government statistics show that “99% of all procedures for creation and breeding were assessed as non-recovery, sub-threshold, mild, or moderate in severity; 1% were assessed as severe.” This makes it sound like animals are not being caused too much pain during experiments, but a 2022 government research briefing reveals that a majority of experiments cause mild pain, meaning “pain or suffering is slight or transitory and the animal returns to its normal state within a short period of time”, or moderate, meaning “causing significant and easily detectable pain to the animal but which is non-life threatening.” Non-recovery means they were put under anaesthetic and did not recover from the operation.

In addition, a large number of experiments take place each year to meet regulatory requirements, with ‘quality control’ of products making up the majority of these. In 2022, there were 94,000 quality control procedures carried out, including 65,000 for ‘patch potency testing’ – i.e. testing to see if a substance or ingredient irritates the skin. Around half of these tests are classified as ‘severe’, which means they cause serious pain or suffering from long-term illness in the animals. These can include procedures like testing chemicals on guinea pigs to see if it triggers an allergic reaction or testing whether lifelong exposure to a chemical causes cancer in rats and mice.

Universities are hubs of cruel animal experimentation

Just ten organisations account for around half of all experiments using animals in the UK, with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge topping the list. Data published by Cambridge shows that over 162,000 procedures were carried out on mice in 2022, with nearly 2,000 of those causing severe suffering. Primates were also used in 68 procedures in 2022, more than double the amount in 2021, and that 27 of those were moderate and four were severe. Most of the 42 procedures on pigs resulted in them not recovering from operations. Around a third of the 74 procedures carried out on sheep were classified as moderate to severe. The data doesn’t show what the procedures were for – there are confidentiality laws protecting labs from having to be transparent with the public about what experiments they are carrying out, though the Home Office publishes a summary of the projects it grants licences to every year – but it does show that a lot of animals are being subjected to significant pain and suffering in these experiments, sometimes multiple times for individual animals.

Swim tests in antidepressant research 

Some experiments performed on animals become widespread and accepted as necessary by the research community, only to later come under criticism for not actually helping to advance scientific knowledge. For example, forced swim tests using mice or rats involve putting them into a container of water from which they can’t escape, in order to test antidepressants. The assumption is that a depressed rodent will give up trying to swim faster than a happy one. On the face of it, this sounds like an absurd way to test the efficacy of antidepressants, and indeed, mental health researchers have become more sceptical of the forced swim test in recent years. The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) has noted that “The lack of innovation in psychiatric drug discovery has been attributed to animal models failing to predict clinical efficacy or to distinguish between models of disease and models of response to treatment.” This indicates that some experiments which are perceived as essential are actually pretty useless, as well as being cruel.

In another recent study from the University of Oxford, researchers tested the decision-making processes of macaque monkeys by surgically putting implants in their brains and then forcing them to sit with their heads held in place for a series of tests. It’s hard to see how this research could be so crucial as to justify keeping monkeys in captivity and forcing them to perform activities that they cannot opt out of or consent to.

Government funding is fuelling barbaric animal experiments

Last year, NC3Rs, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) together invested £4.7 million in 24 new projects focused on developing or improving non-animal alternatives to in vivo models in bioscience research. This is an important investment, but it remains a fraction of the amount of public money that goes into research using animals. In 2017, £34.8 billion went to research and development in the UK, with 40 percent spent on basic research which uses a vast number of animals.

Animal Justice Project has always been firm in its stance against animal experiments and will continue to highlight the cruelty and absurdity of these so-called ‘tests’. Ayrton Cooper, Campaigns Manager states “Animal experimentation is cruel, outdated and is holding back scientific progression. Groups like Animal Free Research UK are making huge progress in their key research areas using non-animal methods of testing. Guinea pigs and mice are not humans, so why would their reactions to skin tests or cancers mimic our own? Penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs, yet remains a class of antibiotics most commonly used in humans to treat infections. Chocolate can kill dogs, yet is consumed by people everyday. People are given false hope when told that animal experiments are necessary. It is mandated in law, but that does not make it necessary, nor does it make it ethical or moral. We must make these barbaric experiments a thing of the past and give people real hope by using human-based testing methods.”

As always,

For the animals.