Stop the use of experimental animals in Denmark

The number of animals in Denmark used in experiments has since 2000 remained constant at around 350.000 a year.

The number of animals are not, despite goals from both industry and public research to reduce as much as possible and efforts to find alternatives, such as computer simulations.

There are nevertheless been an increase in research activity, which means that on average used fewer animals per study. Thus, there are currently conducted several studies on the same experimental than previous years.

According to a new inventory of IngentaConnect, carried out by veterinary Aage Kristian Olsen Alstrup and Professor Axel Kornerup Hansen.

The statement shows that about. 220,000 of the animals have been used in medical research. It is 48-69 percent was spent for research in nervous and mental managements of which 95 to 100 percent have been rodents.

Approximately one in ten experimental animals has allowed life to benefit cancer research, and here is almost exclusively used mice, while 2-3 percent of the animals have been used for research in cardiovascular disorders, which are primarily used rodents, but also pigs and rabbits .

Pig proposes rabbit
The rabbit is otherwise in decline as experimental animals, while the pig is emerging as its heart the size and physiology similar to humans. Use of the rabbit has fallen 36 percent while the number of pigs is the Stage by 54 percent.

Greater knowledge of the pig is also thought to play a role. Just that it might be more acceptable in the population to use pigs instead of pets like rabbits.

Over 99 percent of all animals used for research into human disease, are mammals. Birds, amphibians and reptiles play only a modest role. However, there is an increase in the use of fish as laboratory animals - but not significantly in human diseases.

Mouse over half of all the animals used. There is considerable knowledge about them and they are cheap and easy. But also the development of transgenic mice has revolutionized research into gene function and human hereditary diseases, the authors write.

None Cosmetics
There has been spent between 14,000 and 22,000 animals for toxicological tests per year from 2000 to 2007. It is particularly used rats, and most tests have been of medicines. Since 2005, it was not legal to test drugs on animals only, because the substances contained in cosmetics.

In 2007 was used over 6,000 animals for teaching, which is twice as many as in 2000. There is no immediate explanation for the increase.

Novo Nordisk, which produces insulin among other products, uses animals in research and development of new products. Laboratory animals at Novo Nordisk include pigs, dogs, goats, rabbits and many more.

Novo Nordisk serves nearly 7 billion DKR on developing medicines primarily for people with diabetes but also medicines for HIV infected.

Lundbeck's products are targeted at the following disease areas: depression and related illnesses; Dementia / Alzheimer's.
 
Earning 3264 mio DKR.
Among the animals are dogs and cats.