The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is implementing alternative methods to replace animal tests. The effort employs New Approach Methods (NAMs) for chemical assessments described under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
The agency is also introducing a process where researchers, companies, and others can nominate NAMs. “Modern NAMs, including human cell models and advanced computer-based methods, help EPA identify hazards and exposures faster and often with results that are more relevant to people, not laboratory animals,” the agency explained.
“When the Trump Administration makes a commitment, we deliver. With today’s announcement, we’re accelerating the shift to modern, gold standard science – without the use of animal testing – by using new, innovative methods to review chemicals,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “By broadening high-quality alternatives and inviting strong new candidates, we can deliver faster, more protective decisions while reducing animal testing.”
Last year, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya shared that the agency shuttered its last in-house beagle labs.
During an interview with Fox & Friends Weekend, Bhattacharya said, “It’s very easy, for instance, to cure Alzheimer’s in mice. But those things don’t translate to humans. So we put forward a policy to replace animals in research with technological advances, AI and other tools, that actually translate better to human health.”
“We got rid of all of the beagle experiments on NIH campus,” he declared. Bhattacharya further stated that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent him flowers to honor the lab’s closure.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were also told to cease monkey research, according to a report from Science.
