Animal protection NGO Cruelty Free Europe is urging Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commission to speed up plans to phase out animal testing after the publication of statistics for 2021 and 2022 showed that progress in reducing the number of animals used in science in the European Union has stalled.
Cruelty Free Europe is, however, pleased to see a significant decrease in the use of animals in regulatory testing (tests that prove the safety and efficacy of consumer products), likely due to an increase in the adoption of unapproved animal testing methods. This has led to a 21% decrease in the use of animals in regulatory testing since 2020.
European Commission statistics[1] show that there were 9.34 million animal tests carried out in the EU and Norway in 2022. This is an 8% decrease between 2021 and 2022, but the number of tests has also increased by 7% since 2020.
With 2.13 million, France carried out the highest number of animal tests in the EU in 2022, a 29% increase since 2020. Germany carried out 1.73 million tests and Norway 1.41 million (95% of which were on fish). Spain carried out 1.12 million animal tests, a 53% increase on their 2020 total.
These top four countries accounted for 68% of the total number of tests involving animals in the EU in 2022.
There was a slight decrease in tests causing “severe suffering” from 2020 to 2022, but a significant increase of 19% in tests causing moderate suffering (the second highest level of pain), to more than 3.71 million. Overall, the number of tests causing moderate or severe suffering to the animals involved was 49%.
From 2020 to 2022, the uses of:
Dogs – up 2% to 14,395 Monkeys – up 5% to 7,658 Horses, donkeys and crossbreeds – up 5% to 5,098 Rabbits – up 8% to 378,133 Goats – up 69% to 2,680 Pigs – up 18% to 89,687 Reptiles – up 74% to 5,937 Cephalopods (e.g. squid and octopus) – up 65% to 2,694
There was also a decrease in the use of:
Cats – down 15% to 3,383 Ferrets – down 27% to 941 Guinea pigs – down 23% to 86,192 Sheep – down 12% to 17,542
There has been a decrease in some of the tests included in the RAT (Replace Animal Tests) list[2]created by Cruelty Free Europe founder, Cruelty Free International – a list of regulatory tests that have accepted and trusted non-animal alternatives and could be discontinued immediately. For example, the number of tests for skin and eye irritation, skin sensitization and pyrogenicity decreased in 2022, but still stands at over 55,000. Shockingly, there has been an 18% increase (to 49,309 procedures) in the use of the cruel and archaic method of ascites to produce antibodies, a test that causes the most intense level of suffering.
The European Commission, in response to Cruelty Free Europe’s 2020 European Citizens’ Initiative, “Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a L’Europe Sans essai animaux[4]promised last year to develop a roadmap to phase out animal testing for chemical safety assessments [3]Last month, in partnership with a group of animal protection NGOs, Cruelty Free Europe organised a meeting with key stakeholders from across the European Union, a crucial step towards creating a roadmap to end animal testing in Europe.
Dylan Underhill, Head of Public Affairs at Cruelty Free Europe, said: “These new statistics show how important it is for the European Commission to continue and accelerate its work to end animal testing in Europe. As we enter a new political cycle in the European Union, it is absolutely vital that we build on the work already done and redouble our efforts to accelerate progress. We urge the Commission President to stress to her new Commissioners the importance of the mission to phase out animal testing, and we will call on all of them to make this issue a shared priority.”
“The 1.2 million people who signed our European Citizens’ Initiative have illustrated the strength of feeling on this issue, and we stand ready to support the European Commission in taking the bold action we need to reflect public opinion. Without it, we will be condemned to an endless cycle of stagnation and small cuts, when what we need is transformative change.”
Originally published in The European Times.
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