Animal
Justice Project
August 2018
New figures reveal decrease in animal experiments but still staggering numbers and many carried out inside secretive university labs.
New figures reveal decrease in animal experiments but still staggering numbers and many carried out inside secretive university labs!
01
Today, numbers of experiments on rodents, rabbits, ferret, dogs and
other animals have been published by the Home Office. The figures come amid
new research questioning the scientific rigour of animal experimentation and
reveal half of experiments are carried out at university campuses.
Shockingly, once again over half of animal experiments in Britain are
curiosity-driven or rather, ‘basic’ research.
Animal Justice Project today is releasing information on a failure by top
universities to provide the public with key information via the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We urge
you to support our growing ‘Campus Without Cruelty’ campaign to stamp out
inhumane research.
Our probe into transparency within Britain’s so-called ‘leading
universities’ shows that the largest users of animals in Britain are
refusing to disclose basic information about animal research within their
laboratories.
According to the Home Office, in 2017 the UK completed 3.7 million
procedures on living animals – a decrease from the 3.94 carried out the year
before.
Here is some key information from the report, which can be viewed HERE:
There is growing evidence that animal experiments are not providing results
that are reliably predictive of the human condition. Over the past few
years, researchers have repeatedly shown that many animal studies lack
scientific rigor; they are often prone to biases, for instance, and are
sloppily reported in scientific journals. In 2018, scientists cite hundreds
of biomedical studies from journals including Nature, Science, and the
Journal of the American Medical Association to show animal modelling is
ineffective, misleading to scientists, unable to prevent the development of
dangerous drugs, and prone to prevent the development of useful drugs.
Legislation still requires animal testing prior to human testing even though
the pharmaceutical sector has better options that were unavailable when
animal modelling was first mandated. The legislation‐mandated reliance on
animal test results in early stages of the drug development process leads to
a mere 10 percent success rate for new drugs entering human clinical trials.
Last year, the top ten users of animals in Britain boasted proudly about
their openness with regards to animal research. Animal Justice Project
however questions their so-called commitment to greater openness about
animal research. Half of these universities (including the previous top
three) have refused to provide numbers and species of animals used – Oxford
University, Edinburgh University, University College London (UCL), Cambridge
University and Imperial College London. Each of these universities appear in
the ‘QS World University Ranking Top 100’.
University of Oxford – notoriously the UK’s largest user of animals –
experimented on a staggering 236,429 animals last year, including over
229,000 mice and seven non-human primates. Fifty four are housed at Oxford’s
laboratories. Prior to releasing the data on its website, this information
was denied to Animal Justice Project when asked, despite the university
being a signatory to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research – ‘a
commitment to be more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical
and veterinary research in the UK’. The university applied exemption in
section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 200, stating that it would take
too long to gather the data.
Edinburgh University – the UK’s second largest user of animals and a
Concordat signatory – experimented on 225,366 animals in 2017. Prior to the
university releasing the data on its website, this university refused to
disclose information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 –
applying instead exemption from disclosure under section 27(1) and the
‘public interest test’: ‘The University has concluded that in this case the
public interest in the application of the exemption outweighs the public
interest in premature disclosure’.
University College London (UCL) – the UK’s third largest user of animals –
experimented on 203,744 animals in 2016 but no figures are known for 2017
and again the university refused to answer the Freedom of Information
request, stating that: ‘Given that there are firm plans in place for the
publication of the data we consider it reasonable to withhold this from
disclosure under the FOI regime at this current time’. Again, this
university is a Concordat signatory.
Cambridge University, were, in 2016, in the top ten users, using 155,394
animals that year. The university, this year, refused to answer Animal
Justice Project’s Freedom of Information request, stating that they are
‘exempt under section 22(1) of the Act’ and that ‘the public interest in
maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information’. Cambridge is a Concordat signatory.
Imperial College London – another signatory to the Concordat – used 101,369
animals in 2016, but no figures are known for 2017 as again the university
refused to answer a Freedom of Information request, stating that information
is exempt if ‘the information is held by the public authority with a view to
its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date’
. This is ironic considering they have stated that: ‘We will enhance our
communications with the media and the public about our research using
animals’.
Bristol University – a university not in the top users but one that was
exposed by Animal Justice Project last year for using cats – refused to
answer Freedom of Information requests for at least four years, claiming
that it did not keep a central record of animal experimentation licences. In
2014, the university stated publicly that it would implement a system yet
the figures were not announced until 2017 after continuous pressure from
campaigners. Bristol University is once again failing to disclose
information. Animal Justice Project contacted the university in January 2018
and again in March. Apparently staff absence meant the request could not be
dealt with and the organisation was assured it would receive the information
in a ‘few days’. Bristol University continues to avoid answers with regards
to the number and types of animals it uses in their research.
The numbers revealed by Animal Justice Project in their university probe are
shocking. Kings College London (KCL) – in the top ten users – experimented
on 139,679 animals last year and their Freedom of Information request
revealed that, in one 2018 month (March) alone, over 11,000 animals were
used, including over 8,000 mice. The university has the capacity to hold up
to 40,000 of these animals. From January 2018 – March 2018, the university
used 25,049 mice, 1,406 rats, one rabbit, 23 guinea pigs, 8,315 fish, and
four amphibians. In 2018 – from January to March – 34,000 animals have been
used.
Two universities contacted explicitly stated concern for the safety of their
staff. UCL stated: ‘individuals should be protected in threats to their
safety’ and that ‘public interest arguments do not outweigh prejudice that
would occur from disclosure to the safety of researchers’. This university
went further, stating that information ‘in the hands of animal rights
extremists’ would ‘likely’ distort or manipulate so as to incite hatred and
intimidate members of UCL.
University of Glasgow refused to provide any meeting minutes as ‘disclosure
of the requested information would, or would be likely to, directly or
indirectly endanger the safety and wellbeing of its staff’. This university
also stated that ‘The University considers that there is a real concern that
if the information were to be released this could lead, either at the
present time or at some future date, to it being used in a manner that would
endanger the safety and wellbeing of such individuals’.