Number of animal experiments continues to rise

The use of scientific procedures involving animals continues to show the slow but steadily upward trend apparent over the past decade in Britain. Most of the rise is accounted for by the breeding of genetically modified (GM) animals, predominantly mice.

The latest figures, published by the UK Home Office on 13 July, show that 3.7 million procedures were carried out in Great Britain in 2010, a rise of 3% on the previous year. But if figures for the breeding of GM animals are removed from the total, …