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What Do USDA "Animal Use" Numbers Mean?
The numbers of regulated animals used in research continued to decline during fiscal year 2006 according to the USDA's Annual Report on Animal Welfare Act (AWA) Administration and Enforcement Activities.
The USDA regulates the use of animals in biomedical research, education, and testing. Covered species include most warm-blooded vertebrate animals, with the notable exclusion of birds and rats and mice that are bred for research. The USDA registers research and educational facilities that use regulated species and licenses those who breed, buy and sell, or transport them. Its oversight responsibilities include assuring that animals are legally acquired, provided with adequate veterinary care and housing, and that they are shipped under appropriate conditions.
The AWA statute requires the USDA to submit to Congress a report on "the nature and places of all investigations and inspections conducted by the Secretary." The USDA also asks registered facilities to report the number and species of animals they have used along with the perceived degree of "pain or distress" those animals may have experienced.
In 2001 slightly more than 1.2 million regulated animals were needed for research, education, and testing. The National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR) estimates that during the same period approximately 30 million rats and mice were bred for research. While the precise numbers of rats and mice are not available, it is clear that the vast majority of warm-blooded vertebrates needed for research are rats and mice.
One reason activists have given for why the USDA should regulate rats and mice under the AWA is to provide an accurate count of animals involved in research. However, such a census would provide very little useful information compared with the problems that additional regulation would cause. Congress resolved the issue last year by codifying the long-standing administrative exclusion of rats, mice, and birds from the AWA. This came after researchers emphasized that the vast majority of rats, mice, and birds needed for research are already subject to oversight from the Public Health Service and the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), and that redundant USDA regulation would be a burdensome addition.
The AWA report is sometimes treated as a report card on progress towards the ultimate goal of eliminating animal research. Although in recent years the overall trend among USDA-regulated species has been downward, there have been fluctuations for some species. Changes in the numbers of animals needed reflect such factors as levels of funding, the focus of research, and the development of new techniques. Animal usage broadly echoes funding levels, but the focus of research and new techniques can push the numbers in either direction. Some research areas or new techniques may result in the use of fewer animals, while others may lead to the use of more animals. Genomic studies involving gene insertions and deletions are current examples of new research areas that are increasing the numbers of animals used. Another flaw in the assumption that the statistics represent trends is the fact that animals in long-term studies are almost certainly counted more than once.
Clearly, for the foreseeable future animals will be needed to study human diseases, to educate physicians and scientists, and to assure the safety of drugs, devices, and surgical treatments human and animal use. Publishing animal census data is a virtual invitation to flawed comparisons with data from other years or other countries. It would be difficult to argue that this information promotes animal welfare, but it is easy to see how it creates misconceptions about it.
| USDA Regulated Animals in Research (FY 2006) | |
| Species | Numbers |
| Dogs | 66,314 |
| Cats | 21,637 |
| Non-human primates | 62,315 |
| Guinea pigs | 204,809 |
| Hamsters | 167,571 |
| Rabbits | 239,720 |
| Sheep | 13,577 |
| Pigs | 57,571 |
| Other farm animals | 34,632 |
| Other animals | 144,567 |
| Total | 1,012,713 |