Knight A. 127 million non-human vertebrates used worldwide for scientific purposes in 2005. Altern Lab Anim 2008; 36(5): 494-496.
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In 2008, Taylor and colleagues provided the most accurate estimate of worldwide laboratory animal use provided to date. 58,339,972 living non-human vertebrates were subjected to fundamental or medically applied biomedical research, toxicity testing, or educational use in 2005. This letter updates that estimate. The inclusion of animals killed for the provision of experimental tissues, used to maintain established GM strains, or bred for laboratory use but killed as surplus to requirements, increased the grand total to 126,947,779 animals used worldwide in 2005. Due to a number of limitations, however, these estimates remain far from precise. There are also significant indications they are overly conservative.