Session C1: Animal Numbers and Trends from Around the World

Chairs: Paul de Greeve (The Netherlands) and Clément Gauthier (Canada)

C1: Overview and Analysis of Animal Use in North America
Clément Gauthier. Canadian Council on Animal Care, 315-350 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 1B1, Canada. cgauthier@bart.ccac.ca.

While the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) publishes data on all twelve species of animals used in science, the U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes data on only six of those species. From 1980 to 2000, 29-67% decreases in use were found to be correlated between Canada and U.S. for dogs (r = 0.944, p < .001), cats (r = 0.839, p < .001), rabbits (r = 0.852, p < .001), and hamster (r = 0.716, p < .01), while no significant correlation has been found for primates and guinea pigs. The mean ratio of the number of animals used in the U.S. to the number used in Canada for the four correlated species is 17.0 ± 7.5. Since Canada used 1,342,431 animals in 1980, it is estimated that the U.S. used a total of 22,821,327 ± 10,068,232 animals. The CCAC data for these six species were entered as independent variables in a multiple linear regression to test their value as predictors of the dependent variable, the total number of animals used with no significant correlation found. When the number of rats, mice, fishes, and birds are used as independent variables, both the coefficient of determination (r² = 0.9835, F < .01) and the slope coefficients of the four independent variables are significant (p < .05), meaning that the numbers of rats, mice, fishes, and birds used are valid predictors for the total number of animals used, while the other six species are not.

C1: Animal Use in the United Kingdom
Jon Richmond. Home Office PO Box 6779, Dundee, DD1 9WN, UK. jon.richmond@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

The United Kingdom publishes detailed descriptive annual statistics of the use of animals for experimental or other scientific purposes. Approximately 2.6 million animals are currently used each year--85% of which are rodents or birds, with cats, dogs, equidae, and non-human primates accounting for less than 1% of the animals used. This presentation reviews the nature of the information collected, the current patterns of animal use, and the main trends in animals use. Over the last decade, a steady decline in the numbers of conventional animals used has been recorded, but the production and use of genetically modified animals now offset these reductions. Furthermore, the statistics do not, at present, reflect the progress that has been made with refinement. At present approximately 1/3 of animal use is for fundamental biological research, and just over 1/4 are used for applied medical and dental studies. The main focus of the presentation will be some common misconceptions about what the statistics actually represent, and their role with respect to identifying future trends and identifying priorities and outputs of reduction strategies. Consideration will be given to the limitations of the current statistics and to other indices that perhaps better predict future trends in use and Three R priorities.

C1: Animal Use Statistics--The New Zealand and Australian Experience and Perspective
David Bayvel. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Biosecurity Authority, PO Box 2526, Wellington, New Zealand. bayveld@maf.goft.nz.

In New Zealand, the collection of national data was first mandated in 1987, and has been continued by Regulations made under the recently introduced Animal Welfare Act (1999). The information collected initially in New Zealand was of a very general nature. The National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC) played a key role, in the early 1990s, in working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) to revise the information required and to ensure it was meaningful and informative. The process of revision and refinement has continued with an independent research report being commissioned on behalf of both MAF and NAEAC in 2000. A number of specific issues identified in this report will be discussed, along with more general issues arising from moving to more informative and transparent systems.

C1: Transition of Animal Numbers Used for Experiments and Recent Trends in Japan
Yukihisa Matsuda and Tsutomu Miki Kurosawa. Animal Facilities for Experimental Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo Akita-shi, Akita 010-8543, Japan. ymatsuda@med.akita-u.ac.jp.

Investigations of animal numbers used for experiments are conducted by both the Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science (JALAS) and the Japanese Association of Laboratory Animal Facility of National University (JALAN). The data of JALAS were gathered from more than 500 universities, institutes, and testing laboratory companies involved in animal research, education, or testing. The data of JALAN were gathered from all 43 members and included among those of JALAS. According to the data of JALAS, whole animal numbers used fro animal experiments were 6,955,239, 9,414,427, and 5,126,488 in 1988, 1995, and 1998, respectively. Thus, the whole animal numbers peaked in 1995 and gradually decreased to 5,126,488 in 1998. More than 90% of the whole animals represented in those numbers were rodents, such as mice and rats. Rabbits, guinea pigs, and other species, except dogs, cats, and rodents did not remarkably change in those numbers. However, the number of dogs and cats used for animal experiments in 1998 dramatically decreased in comparison with those used in 1988, because Tokyo stopped releasing pound animals to animal research institutes in 1991, as a result of the requests of animal welfare groups. Based on the data of JALAN, most mice used in recent experiments are gene-modified mice, and pound animals used for experiments in 1998 decreased to less than a quarter of the number used in 1991. Among those pound animals used in 1998 were 4,538 dogs and 1,575 cats. Generally, aside from gene-modified mice, the number of animals being used has been gradually decreasing since 1988 as the Three R's principles are increasingly being implemented.