New Statistics Reveal Urgent Action Is Needed In Korea To Stop Explosion Of Animal Testing

Korean laboratory animal statistics published this week by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, revealed record-high animal testing in 2018.

The new statistics also revealed that one in every three animals in Korean laboratories are subject to a chemical poisoning experiment; the most severe category of experiment in which animals are denied pain relief. In total, 3,727,163 rodents, rabbits, dogs, monkeys and other animals were used in Korean experiments in 2018. A shocking increase of 21% from the previous year.

The continued upward trend in animal use has been slammed by Humane Society International as a reflection of the ongoing failure of Korean product safety regulators and industry to use all available non-animal approaches to testing and assessment for chemicals and other products. Local demand for animal testing under the Korea Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances (K-REACH) and Biocidal Products Act (K-BPR), are believed to be major contributors to this trend because the government statistics show that companies used the overwhelming majority, 89% of animals, compared with national and public institutions which use less than 9%.

Shockingly, the statistics also revealed that 2,167 animals were used in 2018 for cosmetics testing in Korea despite, the Cosmetics Act Reform Bill, which came into effect to limit animal use in 2017.

“It’s disgraceful that Korean companies are still performing cosmetic animal testing after the government has banned this practice, and that more than a million animals were made to suffer last year in the cruelest of animal tests for the sake of chemicals and other products,” HSI Senior Policy Manager Borami Seo said in a statement. “It is an unacceptable betrayal to consumers who mistakenly believe that cosmetics sold in Korea are now cruelty-free and does little to improve consumer or environmental protection because tests on rodents, dogs and other animals are poor predictors of human response.”

“It’s time for private testing facilities and public institutions to get serious about adopting existing non-animal approaches and for Korean authorities to accept and require use of such methods, when available instead of calling for new animal testing,” continued Seo. “We look forward to working with scientific communities in promoting the use of advanced technology, such as, invitro bio-mimetic and computational methods, as well as, investing their resources for human-relevant research replacing animal use.”

HSI has been working closely with Korean politicians in the National Assembly to address the explosion in animal testing through legislative revisions to K-REACH and K-BPR to make it compulsory for regulatory authorities and companies to use available non-animal methods to the fullest extent possible. HSI is also working to establish legislation that will support scientific studies and research based on human-relevant methods without using animals.

You can help all animals by choosing compassion on your plate. #GoVeg