Share thisReport Provides Overview on Numbers and Trends
The Fifth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union(1) was published in November 2007. The fifth report shows that the number of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes in the 24 member states of the EU in 2005 (France 2004) topped 12.0 million. Comparable data from 15 EU member states in 2002 and 2005 showed a 3.2% increase in the use of animals for scientific purposes. France and the United Kingdom were the major animal users and the use of animals increased in these countries by 5% and 3% compared with 2002.
Data from member states were submitted and collated based on a har-monised eight table format agreed by member states in 1997. Data on the use of laboratory animals in the EU for 1999, 2002, and 2005 have now been published using the agreed format, which now permits quantitative and qualitative comparisons on the use of experimental animals in the EU.
For the first time, the report includes data from 25 member states as a result of the accession of ten new member states in 2004. The introduction of data from ten new EU members for 2005 limits comparisons of the trends in the use of experimental animals in the EU between 1999 and 2005.
For the purposes of the report, animals were grouped into classes (Figure 1.1). Rodents and rabbits formed 78% of the total number of animals used, with mice the most common species used at 53%, (6,430,436) and rats at 15%( 2,336,032) . Cold blooded animals formed the second most used group at 15% (823,798). Birds contributed 5% (659,059) of the total animals used.
