Politics Increase in animal experiments in Switzerland last year

Almost 600,000 animals were used in animal experiments in Switzerland in 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 1.6 percent compared to the previous year. Around two-fifths of the animals were used in non-stressful animal experiments.

The most frequently used animals were mice, birds, fish and rats, according to the animal testing statistics of the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO). There was a significant increase in the number of pigs used in animal experiments. At 42,000 animals, their share has increased tenfold compared to the previous year. Pigs are used for animal health and animal welfare studies.

For the first time since 2018, there was a slight decrease of 2.4 percent in the number of severely stressful animal experiments, wrote the FSVO. These severely stressful experiments are carried out to research diseases in humans.