Edinburgh University named over high number of animal experiments
Campaigers are calling for the university to reduce the number of animals being used for scientific research,
Tests were carried out on more than 200,000 animals in the laboratories of Edinburgh University during 2014, according to a list compiled by the anti-vivisection organisation Cruelty Free International.
The University of Oxford came first, with a total of 226,739 animals used in experiments.
In decreasing order, it was followed by Edinburgh (200,861), University College London (176,901), King's College London (165,068), and Cambridge (160,557).
The figures were obtained by Freedom of Information requests. Of 70 UK universities approached, 48 replied in full while 17 sent partial responses.
Among the animals tested were rats, mice, birds, frogs, fish, ferrets, guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep and monkeys.
Dr Katy Taylor, director of science at Cruelty Free International, formerly the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), said: "The public will be shocked to learn that five of the UK's leading universities are responsible for testing on almost one million animals, despite an increasing number of universities recognising this isn't the way to do research.
"We urge them to leave this archaic practice behind and move towards developing innovative and humane research methods for the 21st century."
A University of Edinburgh spokesman said: "The University of Edinburgh is the largest university in Scotland and one of the UK's top rated research universities.
"A small proportion of our research involves the use of animals as a vital component of the quest to advance medical, biological and veterinary science.
"We use animals in research programmes - predominately rodents and fish (97%) only when their use is justified on scientific, ethical and legal grounds, and when no alternatives are available.
"All such work is strictly regulated and carried out under licences, which are reviewed and approved by the Home Office and are issued only if the potential benefits of the work are likely to outweigh the effects on the animals concerned".