The Guardian view on animal testing: we can stop sacrificing millions of lives for our own health | Editorial

New technologies can reduce our reliance on animal experiments. This isn't just morally right, it could have scientific and economic benefits too

Science is a slaughterhouse. We rarely acknowledge the degree to which animal life underwrites the research that provides us with medicines, or theregulation that keeps us safe. Live animals were used in 2.64m officially sanctioned scientific procedures in the UK in2024, many of them distressing or painful and manyof them fatal. But the government's new strategyto phase out animal testing - published earlier this month - suggests that in the near future emerging technologies can largely replace the use of animals in our scientific endeavours.

The UK previously banned cosmetics testing on animals, and has already taken steps to regulate and reduce their use in research. But some needlessly cruel experiments still take place: the forced swim test (FST) for example, in which a rodent is placed in a body of water it cannot escape and researchers measure whether antidepressants extend the time it struggles for life. The government says no new FST licences will be granted, in effect banning it. Similar targets are set over the next few years to end the testing of caustic chemicals on eyes and skin.