Shameful testing on bodies of living animals goes on in Hong Kong

^{A rabbit immobilised in a restraint before having her ears bled Photo: Carlota Saorsa: We Animals}

To their shame, all universities in Hong Kong use animals for testing — just look at their websites. Mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, goats and ferrets are being caged in laboratories and their bodies exploited for research. But the Financial Times said the need for testing on the bodies of innocent creatures is much reduced now. Growing miniature human organs in a test tube and modelling human biology with AI mean many experiments need no longer be conducted on animals.

^{Unlucky 7. An immobilised pig awaits the administration of an infusion in a jugular catheter Photo: Carlota Saorsa: We Animals}

Briefly a look at what is happening locally:

The University of Hong Kong has its Centre for Comparative Medicine Research, which breeds animals for medical research. HKU’s CCMR has colonies of mice and rats, rabbits, pigs, goats and guinea pigs that their faculty and students can experiment upon. Exploitation of animals is happening in the HKU at scale. From the HKU website: “The CCMR encourages standing orders for regular supply (of animals) which helps ensure continuous availability”. It goes on: “Orders for large quantities of animals with narrow specifications … should be submitted well in advance, as setting up specific breeding colonies takes time.” And more: “If the required strain is not available in-house, the CCMR can import animals from overseas suppliers . . .” This “service” is limited to “authorised users” who have approval from the HKU Committee on the Use of Live Animals in Testing and Research. (BUZZ reached out to HKU for this article but had nor response).

^{No longer of use for experimentation, laboratory mice are asphyxiated by carbon dioxide and then bagged for incineration. Mice and rats are some of the most used animals in research Photo: Roger Kingbird: We Animals}

City University of Hong Kong has its LARU which “provides centralised animal care” for its life sciences faculty and students.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology operates its Animal and Plant Care Facility for animal-based study.

Chinese University of Hong Kong has its LASEC which “supplies animals and ensures high welfare standards”. These include mice, rats, hamsters, shrews, pigs, goats, ferrets, guinea pigs and chickens.

^{Stop this cruelty – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) asks Merck and Pfizer to end animal abuse during testing Photo: PETA}

The latest FT Weekend includes an editorial on animal testing. “The heart-rending expression of a baby macaque in a lab brings home the moral urgency of change”. Hear hear! Globally government and regulators have made encouraging commitments to phase out animal testing, the FT says. But cruel practices still go on. “Toxicity testing for an antibody product can involve more than 100 monkeys over six months. Often this cruelty happens despite later banning of the product for other safety reasons.”

In the UK last year there were 2.64 million scientific procedures involving animals. Worldwide an estimated 100 million animals are used in testing.

“Biology and electronics are coming together in models of human systems to test if drug candidates are safe and effective, eg through organ-on-chip technology, ” The FT says. “Scientists are also creating increasingly sophisticated digital twins — computer representations of the human body — to predict how people will respond to diseases and treatments. . . . Everyone involved in life sciences should work to ensure the new technological opportunities to replace (animals) are used as far as possible.”