An pharmaceutical institute in south China's Guangzhou city plans to turn its beagle breeding center into the country's largest next year, capable of breeding 8,000 dogs annually for experiments.
A spokesman for the Guangzhou Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry said the center, which outputs 800 beagles currently each year, would then become biggest animal breeding center for pharmaceutical experiments in China.
Chen Weiping, who is in charge of the center, said most of the animals would be for overseas experiments.
The center was also planning to open a laboratory for pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad to test new drugs, Chen said.
The genetic purity of the beagle, which was originally bred in Britain, made it an ideal animal for experimentation, he said
It has been designated by the World Health Organization as the first choice of dogs for safety assessments of new drugs, foods, farm chemicals and cosmetics.
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2002)
