The number of scientific experiments carried out on non-human primates increased last year by 20%, despite a reduction in the number of primates used in research overall. Animal rights campaigners pointed to the increase as proof that scientists are not making enough effort to find alternatives.
The figures were released yesterday by the Home Office. Scientists hit back at the anti-vivisectionists' claims by pointing to the overall fall in the use of animals in the last 30 years, despite the vastly increased levels of medical research being carried out.
The number of experiments on all animals in the UK in 2003 rose to just over 2.79m, an increase of about 59,000 (2.2%) on 2002. Most of the procedures - 85% - were carried out on rodents, with most of the rest using fish (6%) and birds (4%).
Nicky Gordon, the science officer at the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, said: "Non-human primates are our closest relatives and their capacity to suffer, experience stress and feel pain is clear for all to see. Subjecting them to medical research and toxicology experiments which require them to undergo brain surgery and swallow poisons is abhorrent and should be ended immediately."
Experiments on non-human primates rose from 3,977 in 2002 to 4,799 in 2003, despite a 24% decrease in the number of primates involved.
"This increase is mainly down to neurological research," said Dr Simon Festing, of the Association of Medical Research Charities. "Because of the ageing population, we are seeing greater emphasis on research into diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease."
Penny Hawkins, a scientific officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that the "scientific community has repeatedly told us that they don't like using non-human primates ... Yet the statistics here tell a very different story."
The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries said the increase needed to be put into context. "While there was an increase of just over 2% in the number of animal procedures for 2003 over the previous year, the figures have to be set against a backdrop of increased government funding for biomedical research, as well as a 12.4% jump in the number of compounds in the pre-clinical research and development pipeline."
Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said: "The target everyone hopes for is that a time will come when no animal use will be needed at all. We have a tremendous success story as far as that is concerned because numbers have fallen by a factor of two since the 1970s. So if there is a small increase this year then you have to see this against a background of a 50% fall over the last 30 years."
The overall increase of animal use in 2003 is due, in part, to the greater use of genetically modified animals in research aimed at understanding what the 30,000 or so genes inside every human cell actually do.
"One of the things you can do is add a human gene to a mouse so that he mouse gets a disease it otherwise would not have got, like cystic fibrosis," said Dr Festing. "Then you can observe the mouse and try out new therapies on it."
But Ms Hawkins said: "Do we actually need to know what every single gene does? Often this is being done without a clear applied medical benefit in mind."
Vivisection has become an increasingly fraught issue this year. In January, Cambridge University abandoned plans for a new neuroscience research facility, citing rising security costs as a result of animal rights campaigns. In July, the main contractor behind the new animal research lab at Oxford University pulled out after pressure by animal rights groups. Two weeks later, the Home Office published plans to toughen the law against protests outside the homes of scientists.
Last weekend, animal rights campaigners from around the world met in Kent to learn how to put pressure on companies and universities that practice vivisection.
Earlier this year, the government announced the formation of a research centre for the replacement, refinement and reduction (known as the 3Rs) of animals in research, with a budget of around £600,000.
