The number of animal experiments conducted by Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht has remained almost the same this year. There is a minimal increase from 20,433 in 2020 to 20,576 in 2021. This is evident from the joint Annual Report on Animal Experiments 2021.
Both institutes use laboratory animals for research and education. In these two fields, they are working hard to develop animal-free methods, such as organs-on-a-chip, computer predictions, fake animals for veterinary students to practice on and virtual reality. At the same time, these innovations seem to have limited impact on the number of animal experiments conducted in recent years.
No identifiable cause
Wim de Leeuw, head of the Animal Welfare Authority Utrecht cannot pinpoint any clear causes for the slight increase this year. Last year we saw that a new research project on chemicals in the environment, conducted with zebrafish, drove up the number of animal tests, and also a study on COVID infections in pets. This year we don’t have any of those identifiable causes. Possibly a catch-up effect after all the corona restrictions is playing a role.
Critical attitude students
Nevertheless, in the foreword to the annual report, the dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Debbie Jaarsma, shows optimism, in part because the discussion about how we treat animals is widely held in society and therefore also at the university. Students are educated differently than they were ten or twenty years ago. They come in with a critical attitude towards the use of animals and are offered plenty of food for thought, individually and in collaboration with professionals. This allows them to develop their own attitude towards animals.
