In 2024, mice and rats continue to be subjected to the worst experiments in French laboratories
With the agreement of the Ministry of Research, 22,405 rats and mice will endure tests involving high levels of distress.
In the middle of the end-of-year holidays, the Ministry of Research approved four projects which will subject more than 22,000 rats and mice to painful and repeated stimuli. We condemn the State’s deference for these experiments, for which they are always quick to underestimate the degree of severity.
18,635 rats and 3770 mice. All of them will be deprived of food for hours before being isolated to be subjected to acute or chronic localised pain. Immobilised, they will feel their paws being burnt with a metal filament or suffer high temperatures, as an example. These exposures could be repeated several times a day, for several days. And that is without counting the lesions caused by the products that will be administered to them, or the blood tests carried out.
Although the non-technical summary (NTS) of one of the projects tries to reassure the public by stating that “an anaesthetic is applied before each procedure that needs/allows it”, we are not fooled. The wording used itself indicates that some of them do not allow even the slightest respite to be afforded to rats and mice. When it comes to testing painkillers, as is the case here, their distress is quite the opposite of guaranteed.
Increased and underestimated suffering
Half of the animals used will endure suffering labelled as severe. For another third, it will be ‘moderate’. And you can bet that when we talk about seconds, in certain cases it is a question of chronic pain, which regulations themselves classify at the highest degree of severity. This will not be the first time that the Ministry of Research has not even tried to reinforce its own decree. When it comes to caring for animals even a little bit, it is clearly not worth it.
In France, where less than 14% of experiments carried out belong to the most severe degree of severity, accepting this type of project on rodents does not even raise eyebrows. Despite the controversy and growing opposition from citizens, forced swimming tests inflicted on these animals benefit from the same leniency. And, while we condemned the concerning increase in the births of mice presenting genetic modifications that torment them, the authorities found nothing wrong with that either.
We will continue to give the million mice and 100,000 rats tested on each year by French laboratories a voice. To find out more about what these animals are subjected to here, you can go to our dedicated website.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice