Environmental Protection Agency wants to phase out animal testing by 2035
Written by Michelle Stoddart
The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to phase out the use of animal testing to determine whether chemicals are safe, setting the goal of eliminating it completely in 16 years. Read more.
Texas A&M researchers quietly bred sick dogs in hopes of finding human muscular dystrophy cure
Written by Rebekah Allen
COLLEGE STATION — A colony of golden retrievers and Labrador mixes lives in an unmarked building at Texas A&M. Few Aggies will ever see them, and many of the dogs will never know another home. Read more.
Public being misled on proposed Spring Green dog breeding facility
Written by Jim Newman
Dear Editor: Dane4Dogs is not being truthful with the public when they claim they are simply opposed to the “use of dogs and cats for painful or distressing experimentation,” which is a rare thing. Read more.
Inhumane or unavoidable? As Congress scrutinizes an increase in monkey research, scientists defend its necessity
Written by Ruth Hailu
Federally funded research labs conduct thousands of experiments that rely on monkeys and other nonhuman primates — and now, Congress is ramping up its scrutiny of that science.
As part of the congressional appropriations process in the House this year, lawmakers directed both the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration to produce reports detailing the ways the agency’s scientists use the thousands of nonhuman primates in their research centers. Read more.
More research labs are retiring monkeys when studies finish
Written by Carrie Antlfinger
Izzle, Timon, Batman, River and Mars spent years confined inside a lab, their lives devoted to being tested for the benefit of human health.
But these rhesus macaques have paid their dues and are now living in retirement — in larger enclosures that let them venture outside, eat lettuce and carrots, dip their fingers in colorful plastic pools, paint, and hang from pipes and tires — in relative quiet. Read more.
Group files animal-welfare complaint against Nationwide Children’s over pig
Written by JoAnne Viviano
An animal welfare group has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate and fine the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus over a pig that had to be euthanized in March after a surgery broke protocol in a federally funded project. Read more.
Animal Rights Groups Renew Legislative Push Against Animal Research
Written by Elizabeth Doughman
Two months ago, pressure from animal rights groups ended critical research involving cats at the United States Department of Agriculture. Now, these groups are continuing efforts to stop animal research, concentrating on non-human primate and canine studies and research techniques used for studying depression. Read more.
Opinion: Why the Recent Cat Fight Over the USDA’s Feline Research Should Worry All of Us
Written by Paula Clifford
The eye-catching headlines were hard to miss: “Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Ban Research Kitten ‘Slaughter,’” “USDA Turning Lab Cats Into Cannibals.” And the news stories that followed sounded more like science fiction than science.
So when the Department of Agriculture recently ended its feline studies in the face of public pressure, it likely surprised no one. But looking back, did government researchers fail us? Or perhaps, did we fail them? Read more.
Published April 22, 2019 by Inside Sources
Published April 24, 2019 by Jacksonville Journal – Courier
Opinion: Transparency Is Critical to Defend Animal Research
Written by Cindy Buckmaster
Wasteful, outdated, and unnecessary.
These are three of the most common claims voiced by animal rights groups about the use of animals in research. Are they accurate? Not in the least. Countless published papers and medical advancements demonstrate how animal studies lead to medical progress. But despite this reality, public opinion is no longer solidly behind science. Read more.
Humane Society Successfully Campaigns to End Pesticide Test on Dogs
Written by Shawna Williams
On March 12, the Humane Society of the United States released a report based on an undercover investigation of a lab in Michigan contracted by Dow Agrosciences (now Corteva Agriscience) to conduct toxicity testing on dogs. Just days later, on March 18, Corteva announced it had ended a test of a fungicide on dogs and would attempt to rehome the animals. But what appeared to be a swift victory for the Humane Society was, in fact, the product of a months-long campaign on two continents. Read more.