US Animal Testing: 10% Drop in 2024 After 2023 Surge USDA data for 2023 showed 1,048 facilities reporting 1,609,186 regulated animals used, a 12% increase from 2022, driven by rises in guinea pigs, farmed animals, and 'other' species, with guinea pigs seeing 21.1% more Category E (unrelieved pain) experiments and dogs up 20% in such tests (450 dogs). This marked higher exploitation despite the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. Estimates suggest total US lab animals exceed 14 million annually, including unregulated mice, rats, birds, and fish.
In 2024, use dropped nearly 10% to 851,898 animals across 776 facilities, including first-time reporting of 88,872 birds; excluding birds, 763,026 animals were down from 844,915 in 2023. Declines hit guinea pigs (-26.8%), dogs (-9.5%), cats (-14.3%), rabbits (-11%), nonhuman primates (-3.6%), hamsters (-11.3%), pigs (-13%), and sheep (-6%), though 57,000 animals still faced unrelieved pain and over 100,000 primates remained in labs. Regulatory gaps persist, excluding ~99% of animals, amid advocacy for non-animal methods.
Progress includes EPA's mammal phase-out pledge by 2035 and specific wins like Navy-ending sheep decompression tests and universities dropping live pig training, but Category E issues and high volumes signal ongoing crisis.
