Statistics published recently by the Health Products Regulatory Authority in Ireland have shown that a total of 224,249 animals were used in 226,684 experiments in 2014.¹

During 2014, 200,160 mice, 10,465 rats, 2,107 guinea pigs, 1,539 rabbits, 53 cats, 69 dogs, 66 horses and donkeys, 698 pigs, 1,765 sheep, 3,153 cattle, 414 birds and 3,344 fish were used for the first time in experiments. There were increases in the use of dogs, cats, pigs, sheep and horses/donkeys compared to last year.

A shocking 40% of the experiments carried out involved procedures that led to severe suffering in the animals, which included mice, rats, rabbits and fish. 88,686 mice were used in experiments described as causing severe suffering.

We have reason to believe that a large proportion (if not more) of these tests were botulinum toxin tests. Allergan, one of the main producers of botox, has developed an alternative to this cruel LD50 test that uses hundreds of mice to test each batch of the toxin.

However, despite this, laboratories in Ireland are still subjecting mice to the barbaric test, which involves injecting them with the botulinum toxin and counting how many of them die from suffocation.

We are monitoring the use of mice in these experiments and are calling on the companies and regulators to take action to end these tests once and for all.

We are also concerned that 53 cats were used in 444 experiments, an average of 8 experiments per animal.  And 69 dogs were subjected to an average of almost 12 experiments each. The report states that both the cats and dogs were used to test veterinary medicines.

Source:

1. Annual statistical report for animals used in Ireland under scientific animal protection legislation. (2014). HPRA