The Home Office has reported a decline in the number of scientific procedures carried out on living animals in UK labs in 2019.

Last year, 3.40 million such procedures were carried out in Great Britain, with 1.73 million carried out for experimental purposes and 1.67 million relating to the creation and breeding of genetically altered (GA) animals.

Of those carried out for experimental purposes, 57% were for basic research, most commonly focusing on the immune system, the nervous system and oncology. Ninety-one percent of all experimental procedures were considered as sub-threshold, mild or moderate in severity.

Of those carried out relating to GA animals, 88% were for maintenance of already established GA lines, with 12% of procedures for the creation of new lines.

The majority (93%) of procedures (both for experimental and breeding purposes) used mice, fish, or rats.

The Home Office noted that 2019 saw the lowest number of procedures carried out on live animals since 2007, but Animal Free Research UK has condemned the results as “yet another wasted opportunity to make real progress”.

According to Carla Owen, the group's chief executive, the COVID-19 pandemic “has forced a reappraisal of the linear medical research testing policy which requires animal tests before human tests and results in a c.90% failure rate.

“It has never been more imperative to set a clear timetable for regulatory change. If the UK is to become a science superpower, we must significantly increase investment in cutting-edge new approach methodologies such as organ-on-a-chip which are best placed to discover treatments for human diseases, save precious time and lives, and stop the senseless suffering of millions of animals each year".