National Universities Used 1.8 mln Animals for Experiments Since 2018

Animal use is rejected if qualifications for the level of pain inflicted on the animal, the plans to alleviate the pain and the experimental conditions are deemed inappropriate. (Image: Kobiz Media)

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Eleven national universities and national university corporations in South Korea have used more than 1.8 million animals for experiments over the past three years.

Rep. Lee Tan-hee of the ruling Democratic Party said Thursday that, according to reports from 10 national universities and Incheon University, a total of 1.8 million animals have been used for experimental purposes at these schools, accounting for 9.2 percent of all animal experiments conducted at all 120 universities in the country.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) at these universities deliberated on 20 to 30 cases of animal use for each two-hour review session, deliberating on up to 350 cases per meeting.

The IACUC at Seoul National University, in particular, reviewed some 2,400 cases in seven review sessions, which is equivalent to reviewing each case in 20 seconds.

During the period of investigation, less than 1 percent of all submitted cases for animal use were denied by the 11 universities.

Five universities, including Seoul National University, had no rejected cases of animal use.

Animal use is rejected if qualifications for the level of pain inflicted on the animal, the plans to alleviate the pain and the experimental conditions are deemed inappropriate.

Around 60 percent of all animal experiments conducted at the 11 universities, however, were grade D and E experiments, which leave the animal suffering from extreme pain.

Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)