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| UK animal experiments increase by 8% | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The number of animal experiments carried out in the UK rose by 8% in 2012, according to Home Office figures. | The number of animal experiments carried out in the UK rose by 8% in 2012, according to Home Office figures. |
| The rise is partly due to an increase in the number of genetically modified animals being used. | The rise is partly due to an increase in the number of genetically modified animals being used. |
| For the first time, the number of procedures involving GM animals was higher than the number on non-GM ones. | |
| Campaigners criticised what they said was the government's failure to deliver on a post-election pledge to cut the number of procedures. | |
| About 4.11 million scientific experiments on animals took place in 2012, an increase of 317,200 on the previous year. | |
| The number of GM animals increased by 22%; this year saw 1.91 million genetically modified (GM) animals used compared to 1.68 million non-GM animals. | |
| Mice were the most frequent animals used, accounting for 1.98 million procedures. There was also a 22% increase in the use of non-human primates. | |
| The government report said: "The overall level of scientific procedures is determined by a number of factors, including the economic climate and global trends in scientific endeavour. | |
| "In recent years, while many types of research have declined or even ended, the advent of modern scientific techniques has opened up new research areas, with genetically modified animals, mainly mice, often being required to support these areas." | |
| In 2010 the coalition government pledged to promote higher standards of animal welfare. | |
| They stated: "We will end the testing of household products on animals and work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research." | |
| Referring to this pledge, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (Buav) said the continued rise in testing amounted to "a broken promise". | |
| Michelle Thew, chief executive of Buav, commented: "The Government has failed for a third year on its post-election pledge to work to reduce the number of animal experiments and, as a result, millions of animals continue to suffer and die in our laboratories. | |
| "This lack of progress is completely unacceptable. We need to see meaningful and lasting changes for animals in laboratories." | |
| Dominic Wells from the Royal Veterinary College said: "We are in an era of developing treatments for rare diseases in a way that we were could not have predicted five years ago. We are the victims of our own success and this has inevitably led to the use of more animals." |