❌ The myth: Animal testing for medical research is required by law in the UK.
✅ The truth: Animal testing for medical research is not required by law in the UK. In 2023, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed that “there is no United Kingdom legislation that mandates animal testing”.
For some types of research there is a regulatory requirement to use animal experiments, such as the safety testing of new drugs or chemicals – BUT, this is still not required by law.
Regulatory guidelines recommend that new drugs are tested on two species (one rodent such as a mouse or rat, and one non-rodent such as a dog or monkey), before moving to human trials. But in 2023, the DHSC also stated that assessors will accept data from a “suitably validated model that has been demonstrated to be predictive […] in lieu of animal data”, meaning that data from non-animal methods can be accepted instead.
Despite this, in 2023, 20.8% of all UK animal experiments were carried out for regulatory purposes, using 248,083 animals – of which 2,298 were beagles.
For additional information on Animal Free Research UK visit their Website