杏吧原创

IS THE number of animal tests done in the UK increasing or not?

The Home Office revealed on Tuesday that 2.8 million experiments were performed in 2003, a 2.2 per cent increase on 2002. A year ago, the corresponding rise was 4 per cent.

鈥淭his shocking rise is a shameful reflection of this government鈥檚 failure to tackle the issue of animal experiments,鈥� says Adolfo Sansolini, chief executive of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

鈥淭here may be a slight blip,鈥� says Chris Higgins, director of the Medical Research Council鈥檚 Clinical Research Centre in London. But he points out that compared with 20 years ago the number of animals used in medical research has fallen by more than 50 per cent.