Animals in labs

Tulip, rescued from a university animal lab, enjoys playing with her other mouse friends.

There are about 20 million animals used in U.S. labs each year, although labs do not need to report the majority of animals used—mice, rats, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Rabbits are the most widely-used reportable animal, followed by guinea pigs, hamsters, farm animals, dogs, nonhuman primates, and cats.

Companies that breed animals for research supply most animals. Other animals come from Class B dealers, who acquire animals from animal shelters, auctions, other licensed dealers, and sometimes through “free to good home ads” or on the street. Some shelters still sell animals scheduled to be euthanized to labs.

Product testing

Animals are used to develop household products such as shampoo, floor cleaners, show polish, and more. While many cosmetic companies no longer use animal testing, countless more still do. The government requires drug developers to use animals.

Many animals in laboratories spend their entire lives in solitary, metal cages. Not only do experiments often cause suffering, but undercover video has documented terrible abuses at research facilities: lab workers yelling and cursing at terrified animals, punching dogs in the face, roughly jamming feeding tubes into primates' noses, dissecting live animals, and more.

Medical research

Animals are research subjects for medical problems, experimental psychology, development of surgical techniques, vaccines, and more. The military also uses animals to develop weapons and study combat trauma and infectious diseases. Animals have been ejected into outer space, shot, burned, subjected to corrosive materials and decompression, given cancer, addicted to crack, and more.

Animals in education

Mama, who spent two years inside a lab before becoming a part of Margo DeMello's family, eats a carrot.

Each year, about six million cats, rabbits, minks, fetal pigs, frogs, and worms are killed for dissection in U.S. middle and high school biology classes. And some classroom and competitive science projects include experiments on animals.

Some med schools still require students to operate on and kill pigs and dogs. And while most vet schools use live animals, two-thirds allow students to opt out of live animal surgeries and other terminal procedures.

Alternatives

Hundreds of companies now rely on effective, humane alternatives. Methods such as computer simulations, clinical research, genetic research, in vitro tests, and epidemiological studies are all useful for studying genetic function, drug development, nutrition, psychology, disease, anatomy, and more.

How you can help animals in labs:

• Buy products not tested on animals. Nearly every major animal protection group offers free brochures listing companies that don't test on animals.
• Tell friends and family about how easy it is for individuals to stop animal testing through smart shopping choices.
• Fight dissection in schools. Many states offer alternatives.
• Donate to charities that don’t fund animal research.
• Consider donating the body of a deceased companion animal to an Educational Memorial Program. These veterinary school programs teach anatomy, surgical methods, and more in a humane, effective way.
• Tell your federal representatives that you want to see the reduction and replacement of animals in laboratories as a start.