Patricia Frías-Álvarez, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
Gustavo Ortiz-Millán, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
In Mexico, it is not known which institutions use animals for scientific purposes. This work reports, based on data requested from the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI by its acronym in Spanish), the types of institutions that use animals for research and how many of these have an ethics committee. Research centres, colleges, hospitals, national institutes, technical colleges, and public universities are the types of institutions that report using animals for experimentation. Only 54 % of institutions have ethics committees. Mexican institutions from 2015 to 2021 used a total of 2,112,786 animals. Mammals are the most widely used animal group. The scientific purposes for using animals depend on the type of institution that uses them. In Mexico, it is necessary to update the regulations in order to regulate the use, protection and the care of laboratory animals.
Keywords: Animal experimentation. Mexican institutions. Regulation in experimentation. Ethical committees.