AIBU to be shocked that the UK is still conducting tests (including for the cosmetic industry) on animals including dogs?

[LancashireButterPie]

Today I learned that the UK still conducts scientific tests on dogs, including beagles and that one site in Cambridgeshire breeds 2000 Beagle puppies for research purposes every year.
Not only that but the security of the site includes police protection, which, as tax payers, we are all paying for.
Call me naive but I really thought this practice ended years ago. Surely, in 2026, we do not need to test cosmetics on animals, including dogs.

What OP says isn’t true - she says they’re for cosmetic rather than drug testing.

Cosmetic testing has been banned in the UK for 28 years.

Medicines are still tested on a range of animals, including beagles. The the last 15 years or so there has been a shift toward using pigs as the non/rodent species (had to be one rodent and one non-rodent for safety testing), rather than dogs, because of public perception, but in my experience (I left the field in 2016 mind), the pigs were much more stressed by the experience than dogs, which have been bred to be handled for so many generations.

For studies on medicines for things like Parkinson’s, sometimes only a primate is close enough to the human brain to give reliable results.

Animals are only used when the is no acceptable alternative. If you had an illness and there was the choice of one that had been safety tested on animals, and one that hadn’t, would you want to be the first to try the latter?

Would you rather medicines be tested in the UK, with stringent rules about minimising animal suffering, or somewhere else with fewer rules?

Would you rather the animals be bred in the UK or bred somewhere else and shipped in?

Would you rather stressed pigs or fairly content beagles?

Most people prefer not to think about it, but still want safe medicines.

Ok, well I didnt think they were close enough in biology to us for that to be honest, whereas rodents are believe it or not and also pigs

But in any case its not for cosmetics which is OPs point

I agree. In an ideal world there would be no need for animal testing but I do think it’s essential for medicine (until an alternative can be found) but let’s be honest no one needs make up etc.
All we can do is our best and buy cruelty free as much as possible.

Not as hard of thinking as you. We all had a brand new vaccine for a virus we were overwhelmed with. The vaccine will inevitably been tested on animals. Most of us, the vast majority of us took the vaccine, some of us many times. So we are all using products which have been tested on animals, even if, in your day to day life, you dont need regular medication.

The data for all the species used is published:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/scientific-procedures-on-living-animals-great-britain-2025#documents

Mm.

Medical/science testing is still done and still needs to be done, the technology to totally replace it doesn't yet exist.

If we ban it here, we do not ban it globally, it will still happen elsewhere but without the stringent controls we have here.

So all the people campaigning to ban it in the UK would achieve is pushing it out to another country with potentially far lower welfare standards.

As someone kept alive by medications tested on animals, that is not what I want.

The animals are really well cared for. The lab technicians give excellent, loving care. There are no other options because if there were the lab would have taken them. Running a lab with animals is very expensive. And on top of that you have the cost of buying the animals. Can you imagine how much buying a rat that has been given these diseases costs (yes you buy rats that have been bred to have these illnesses)? Not cheap but there are no corners cut with drug development.

Are you seriously saying if you got dementia and there was a drug that could save you that was tested on animals you wouldn’t take it? I don’t believe you.

Testing for cosmetics was banned in 1998.

The Tory government started secretly issuing new permits between 2019 and 2022.

After backlash, it was made illegal again in 2023.

There remains a loophole that allows testing on "multi-use chemicals". If a chemical is primarily used in other (non medical) categories of household or industrial good, but is also used in cosmetics, licenses are still issued for animal testing.

Edit to add that it's an appalling practice, including in medicine.

Not unreasonable but definitely naive

Do you believe everything you read on Facebook? Starting threads on other sites to spread nonsense, without even doing basic checking, is why it's so hard to get real news online and bullshit spreads everywhere.

There is a loophole on the ban on cosmetics. The ban applies to single use cosmetic ingredients but anything that is also used in another industry can still be tested on animals. There are people pushing to close this loophole.

And only a small portion of chemicals were ever used exclusively in cosmetics, so it's not an insignificant loophole.

It's why you still get "cruelty free" certifications like the leaping bunny - to distinguish between those cosmetics manufacturers that continue to rely on ongoing animal testing via the multi-use loophole.

Why beagles in particular?

Are you seriously saying if you got dementia and there was a drug that could save you that was tested on animals you wouldn’t take it? I don’t believe you.

No, that's not what I am saying at all. Suggest you read what I said more closely.

Because they are gentle and can be made to take any treatment without the danger of biting.

There is also a site in Scotland for animal testing.
MBR acres are breeding and supplying animals and animals tissues etc for testing.
As far as I understand 90% of successful testing on animals does not have any success in humans for medical reasons.
Things tested would also include medication for other animals but also useless things like cleaning substances, fragrances etc.
It is not only the matter of what animals are being tested on for, but the methods as well. It is cruel and, mostly, unnecessary in this day and age.
And the conditions the animals are being kept in. During the heatwave it couldn’t have been any good at all.
This situation has been highlighted for a long time. And I still don’t understand why it doesn’t make the news. I’m guessing because of government backing.
We can dress it however we like, but torturing a fish or a dog or any other creature or simply using their body for the benefit of humankind (medicine is only part of it) is unacceptable in our times. We can learn and adapt and use it other methods. And nobody ‘needs’ a fragranced softener for laundry.

My university had research labs on top floor that we weren't allowed access to that had monkeys in them. That was in the 00's. I did research on neonatal rats as part of my dissertation. People want new treatments for cancer, dementia, MS, MND etc but they don't want to accept that those treatments need to be tested in animal models of disease before they go anywhere near humans.
I think everyone would agree animal testing for cosmetics is unacceptable and unnecessary when we already have banks of cosmetic ingredients that we know are safe for use in humans.

For anyone interested in animals used in scientific research, take a look at https://nc3rs.org.uk

they have to approve most government funded research that includes animals, and will refuse to approve it if they aren’t happy. Including research that uses data sets from abroad. If they don’t know that the animals used to obtain the data weren’t looked after properly and treated humanely, even if the data is now totally open and accessible to anyone, they can refuse the funding.

My relative does research on rodents for Alzheimers. The controls are really strict, you need a certification and training to be allowed to conduct experiments on animals. The animals themselves are monitored constantly and problems/illness has to be responded to promptly. My relative has to be on call 24 x7 during one of their experiment cycles.
It's not wonderful of course but it's important research and listening to how it's done I am satisfied that there are good controls around it.

@DollydaydreamTheThirdyou are right in everything you say.
I think we, the public, should be aware of what is going on and start questioning methods and if the results are worth the process.
We can draw a line and industries can either invest in alternative testing or prove they are not involved in the current methods. Which would be impossible to prove.
As regards cosmetics, as an example, brands trading in China have to comply with Chinese regulations. Estée Lauder or L’Oreal acquire new innovative, ‘clean’ brands with certain ethics. At that point, the younger brands don’t have the same control over what happens at the research and production stage.
It is a heavy burden for all to carry and accept. And I’m sure we and our families (and our pets) benefit from animal testing in our daily lives. We need to change things somehow. Starting at the breeding stage (who is supplying these animals).

I don’t think animal testing for cosmetics is allowed in the U.K., and also cosmetics are not allowed to be sold here that are tested on animals.
Where confusion arises is that big brands (L’Oreal is often named) who sell in China have to abide by their laws to sell product there. And China makes it mandatory for cosmetics to have been tested on animals.

I don’t have any issue with animal testing in medical research in this country. This is done under strict ethical controls and either we say we don’t want any new cancer treatments or we accept animal testing. Anyone who has watched someone they love die from cancer probably feels it would be better if we had more effective treatments.

Better it’s done here as humanely as possible than in countries that won’t treat animals as humanely.

Soft mouths. They were used extensively to test cigarettes as they could puff without damaging the filter .

I did read somewhere that every batch of Botox is tested
I know it is used in medical fields but most will be cosmetic.

I always read on Style and Beauty " I have my 11's done and a tiny bit on my crows feet,, I still look like me , just fresher"

I will not have Botox done. I don't need to look " fresher" , I'm not a bloody lettuce

I had an interview at Astra Zeneca and they told me they.use beagles in testing but I think it was for medicine. I'm.glad I didn't get the job though as it didn't sit well with me

Yep me too. They’re regularly transported in and out.