This evaluation is based on searches of the CRISP
system for the following terms: mouse, rat, macaca (Latin species name
for macaque monkeys), saimiri (Latin species name for squirrel
monkeys), dog, cat, rabbit, guinea (to bring up grants involving
guinea pigs without using the potentially confusing term pig), and
hamster. While these terms will not give us an exhaustive picture,
they should certainly suffice to provide a good measure of trends
because these are often the most commonly used species in animal
experimentation. Certain species were purposely not counted in totals
in an effort to allow for potential duplication. The tendency here has
been to be conservative, and avoid overstating the situation. However,
trends in these other species will be listed as well for completeness.
But overall trends are based on the species names listed above.
Searches run on these terms will bring up a list of
all NIH-funded grants using these animals. This will not give us any
information on specific animal use numbers, but it should reveal the
number of different experiments that the NIH funds which utilize these
species.
This system will not yield a foolproof measure of
animal experiments. The results are from only one government agency.
This evaluation totally ignores any experiments within the National
Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of
Defense, and many other governmental agencies. This examination also
ignores privately funded experiments. This brief investigation is
meant to give only trends in the most general terms. However, there is
no real reason to believe that other entities, whether public or
private, are moving in any other direction.
