The German Animal Welfare Federation is appalled by the numbers of animals used in experiments for 2021 published by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. A total of 5,058,167 animals were “consumed” by the animal testing industry. For the first time, following changes to the Experimental Animal Reporting Ordinance, the statistics also include animals that were bred for scientific purposes but then not used but killed as surplus - presumably for purely economic reasons. At 2,554,560, the number of these surplus animals even exceeds the number of animals used.
“This year's figures confirm our worst fears: Far more animals are dying for German laboratories than previously communicated. 2.5 million animals are purely disposable for the animal testing industry. This is clearly contrary to animal welfare,” says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. “We have been calling for an overall strategy for phasing out animal testing with concrete steps for years. Modern animal-free methods could replace the painful and questionable experiments long ago. They just need to be promoted more - as promised by the federal government in the coalition agreement!”
86 PERCENT OF SURPLUS ANIMALS ARE MICE
Previously, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment only published the number of animals used for scientific purposes - either for experiments on live animals or for experiments on organs or tissue for which the animals were previously killed. Now, animals that were bred for scientific purposes but ultimately not needed for these purposes and were therefore killed - so-called surplus animals - must also be reported. These mainly include mice (86 percent), followed by zebrafish (12 percent). However, 2,237 domestic chickens, 95 cattle and 81 rabbits were also born in 2021 to be “disposed of” by German laboratories because they had no use for the animals.
MORE THAN HALF OF THE ANIMALS SUFFER FOR BASIC RESEARCH
The total number of animals used in experiments and killed for scientific purposes remains stagnant at a high level of 2,503,607. More than half of the animals (56 percent) were used purely for basic research, without any concrete or foreseeable benefit. 17 percent of laboratory animals were used in the production or quality control of medical products or for toxicological safety tests, such as those prescribed for chemicals or pesticides. 14 percent were used for research into diseases in humans and animals. Among the animals, 75 percent were mice, followed by rats and fish with 8 percent each. Also 63,124 rabbits, 2,658 dogs, 1,915 primates and 862 cats were used. A total of 79,451 animals suffered the highest degree of pain, suffering or damage in the experiments. One example of this is death by asphyxiation following the injection of toxic substances.
