
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to phase out animal testing procedures by 2035 in a bid to end flawed scientific tests which torture animals.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced that the agency planned to slash mammal study requests and funding by 30% by 2025 and ‘eliminate the need for animal testing’ completely by 2035 in favor of modern, alternative testing methods.
The EPA previously relied on animal models to assess chemical and pesticide risk on human health and the environment, but in recent years switched to adopting alternative testing methods.
Wheeler explained the move was to pave the way for new approach methods (NAMs) that would replace animal testing with a number of in-vitro and computer modeling techniques.
New strategies will use ‘cutting-edge, ethically sound science that efficiently and cost-effectively evaluated potential chemical hazards’ on human health and the environment without animal testing.
The EPA said this move would save around 100,000 animals including rabbits, mice, rats, guinea pigs, and dogs that were otherwise annually sacrificed for various experiments.
The agency announced that it would grant $4.25 million to 4 universities- John Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University and Medical Center, Oregon State University, and the University of California-Riverside to research and develop alternative testing methods and strategies to ‘reduce, refine, and/or replace vertebrate animal testing’.
Mixed responses
Organizations such as PETA, the White Coat Waste Project and the Humane Society of the United States applauded EPA’s resolution in reducing animal testing models.
Amy Clippinger, director of PETA’s regulatory testing program said: “PETA is celebrating the EPA’s decision to protect animals certainly – but also humans and the environment – by switching from cruel and scientifically flawed animal tests in favor of modern, non animal testing methods.”
Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, said: “(EPA’s decision) is a decisive win for taxpayers, animals, and the environment.”
Opposition
However, some groups criticised the decision, as they said tests are vital to protect human health.
Senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Jennifer Sass denounced the decision in a press release statement: “It’s very disappointing and very frustrating.
“Ending animal testing is going to allow potentially dangerous chemicals to get out there into the environment and into consumer products.
“EPA is eliminating tools that lay the groundwork for protecting the public from dangers like chlorpyrifos, formaldehyde, and PFAS. Phasing out foundational scientific testing methods can make it much harder to identify toxic chemicals—and protect human health.”
Speaking to The Intercept, Thomas Zoeller, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, mirrored Sass’s concerns: “If you exclusively depend on in vitro toxicology or mathematical modeling, you’re going to miss all the different interactions that happen in a physiological system — whether in rat, mouse, human, or a fetus. You simply cannot replicate that.
“EPA is well aware that these cells don’t replicate human metabolism. So when it comes to bioactivation, they’re going to miss all that — and they know that.”
However, Ann Bartuska, vice president for land, water and nature at nonprofit Resources for the Future and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy undersecretary, told Science Magazine that although Sass raised genuine concerns, the EPA had an in-house science advisory board to make sure the implementation of new alternative methods was fool proof and well executed.
“It’s a very major step that I think will have an impact on other federal agencies,” she said.
“It’s right to be cautious, but something has to change.”
What do you think of EPA’s decision to eliminate animal testing procedures?Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Vegan Nottingham student creates budget-friendly oat milk machine to reduce carbon footprint and combat rising prices
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 30th May 2023
The invention is sustainable and cost-effective. A vegan undergraduate studying product design at Nottingham Trent University has developed a container that can help people create their own oat milk at home for just 20 pence per litre. “Oatilicious,” provides significant cost savings compared to store-bought oat milk for up to £2.20 per carton. The innovative …
Bear Grylls ’embarrassed’ by past vegan diet promotes meat, blood, and bone marrow for better health
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 15th May 2023
“I’ve tried to listen to my body more, tried to listen to nature, and I don’t miss vegetables at all. I don’t go near them, and I’ve never felt stronger, my skin’s never been better, and my gut’s never been better.” Adventurer and TV presenter Bear Grylls has become a die-hard carnivore fan after admitting …
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …
Continue reading “QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert”
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a …
Continue reading “QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?”
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …