Authority records lowest amount of animal testing in six years
Almost 200,000 animals were used in scientific research and testing procedures during 2018, representing a reduction of nearly 20% compared to the previous year.
Some 199,800 experiments were performed on animals including horses, rabbits, ferrets and goats last year, the lowest number of such procedures since records began in 2013.
The severity of the procedures was also reduced, according to new figures published by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA). The number of “non-recovery” procedures resulting in the death of an animal was more than halved to 1,065, representing fewer than 1% of the experiments conducted last year.
Procedures classified as having a “severe” impact on the animal subject also decreased from 77,596 in 2017 to 33,746, comprising 17% of the total in 2018. These are defined as causing long-lasting moderate pain, suffering or distress for the animal; or short-term severe pain.
Most of the tests (55%) were classified as involving “mild” severity, while the severity of a further 27% described as “moderate”, according to the data.
Almost 150,000 of the procedures were carried out on mice, while rats were used 21,635 times. No dogs were used for research and testing purposes for the first time last year.
Horses, donkeys and cross-breed equines were used in 54 tests during 2018, while rabbits were the subject of 171 experiments. Ferrets were used 288 times, and pigs were used on 1,662 occasions.
In its report, the HPRA noted that the “complete replacement” of animals in scientific research is the “ultimate goal” of EU regulations. However, it claimed that this is not currently possible.
“After generating as much information as possible using non-animal alternatives, animal studies can be necessary to fill knowledge gaps in order to safeguard human, animal and environmental health,” it said.
The authority said that every application for the use of animals in scientific research requires justification for the techniques being applied, and the likely impact on the animals must be minimised “as far as possible”, and any harm must be outweighed by the benefits of the work.
The purpose of 72% of the procedures involving animal subjects last year was regulatory use or routine production, which refers to legal requirements to test the safety, quality or potency of medicines.
Some 7,887 procedures were carried out for “basic research” regarding the structure, function and behaviour of organisms; while 38,477 were for “translational and applied research” into diseases.
The most common area of translational and applied research was “human nervous and mental disorders” such as epilepsy, autism and depression. The next most-common purpose was animal welfare.
A total of 4,110 procedures were for research in the area of skin, eye and ear disorders in humans. The majority of procedures (143,578) were for the purposes of quality control, including batch safety and potency testing.
