Animal testing: European Union figures for 2020 condemn France

In 2020, almost 8 million animals were experimented on for research and tests, and more than 680,000 for the creation and upkeep of certain genetically modified lines. These figures, already unacceptable, do not even include all of the individuals who pass through laboratories’ hands. No trace remains of the animals used solely for their tissue or of any invertebrates other than cephalopods.

A bloody podium for France...

Once again, France plays a leading role in this massacre. Already condemned for having widely participated in illegal experiments in 2019, the following year France found itself on the podium of the three biggest users in the European Union, with more than 1,600,000 procedures, alongside Germany and Norway.

But that is not all. Not content with using a record number of individuals each year, France is also among those who inflict the most suffering upon them. While the proportion of procedures deemed ‘severe’ has stagnated between 8 and 10% in the European Union (EU) since 2015, it remains between 14 and 19% in France. The proportion of tests deemed ‘moderate’ has meanwhile increased in our country, to the detriment of so-called ‘mild’ tests. It is almost as though we like to move backwards in this country...

...and the persecution of crab-eating macaques

So let’s look at the case of crab-eating macaques. The number of individuals used for the first time in the EU has decreased since 2018, reaching 4,220 animals experimented on in 2020. France could have followed suit. That did not happen. In the same amount of time, the number of these animals subjected to tests in our country increased by 5%. As if that was not enough, there were more and more uses of individuals originating from Asia, where they are in danger of extinction, and we still use double the amount of crab-eating macaques whose parents had been captured in the wild than other member states.

Faced with these still shocking figures, we are repeating our request for a genuine exit programme for animal testing throughout Europe, alongside genuine financing to develop research methods without animals.

Consult our site dedicated to the analysis of ministerial data to find out more about animal testing and its victims in France.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice