u/VeganPeterA

Repost: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Before a new medicine is tested in people, it goes through safety testing.

For decades, many of the federal regulations guiding that process referred specifically to animal tests.

That language is now changing.

On Sept. 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is updating numerous drug and biological product regulations to replace references to "animal tests" and "animal studies" with a broader term, "nonclinical." That term includes nonanimal methods such as tests using human cells, organs-on-chips, and computer models.

By no longer pointing specifically to animal testing, the updated rules clarify that drug developers can submit evidence from nonanimal methods where appropriate.

This change has been years in the making.

In 2017, Physicians Committee experts identified 235 FDA regulations that should be updated to remove barriers to nonanimal methods. Since then, the Physicians Committee has worked with Congress, the FDA, and drug developers to advance these changes.

"Changing a few words in federal regulations can have a significant impact," said Janine McCarthy, MPH, our director of research policy.

This is meaningful progress toward greater use of human-based methods in drug development, but the update covers only a portion of the FDA regulations that need modernizing.

We’ll continue working with the FDA to update remaining regulations and guidance, remove regulatory barriers, and accelerate the adoption of nonanimal methods that better protect people and animals.

For more information about our work to reform policies and advance animal-free science at the FDA, visit pcrm.org/FDAReform

Repost: Rise for Animals

This week in animal research:
🧪 FDA moves to drop "animal" from drug-testing rules
🤖 What if AI treats us like we treat animals?
🏛️ COMPACT Act + PA "Beagle Bill" target dog and cat research
🐶 New Ridglan + Marshall developments
🐒 130 CDC monkeys need a new home
Read the roundup:
https://riseforanimals.org/news/news-oct-2-2026/

National Institutes of Health (NIH) is taking concrete steps toward human-based science! It just announced five new programs, including an $88M investment in animal-free research, an animal-free lab, better transparency, & more.

Repost: Humane World for Animals

Big win for animals! The FDA announced that it plans to update its drug regulations by removing references to animal testing. This will help make it clear that companies don’t have to submit data from animal tests to have their drugs approved.

https://www.humaneworld.org/en/blog/win-fda-takes-steps-away-from-animal-testing

Repost: Medicine Without Cruelty

Some good news from the newly formed Department Business, Innovation Science and Trade - they are investing in helping the UK move away from testing medicines on animals and using alternatives like this instead.

The package includes:

A new £20m hub in Cambridge to develop human tissue models using cells donated by patients 🔬

£2m for 10 innovative projects, including lab-grown human ear models and heart cells, and AI systems that can predict how drugs move through the body 🧪

By advancing technologies like organoids - miniature versions of human organs grown from donated patient cells - researchers will be able to gain more accurate insights into how treatments may work in people.

Not only could this replace animal testing, it could also help develop treatments for diseases like cancer and bowel disease quickly and precisely, supporting real outcomes for patients.

Our goal with this petition is to urge the organizers of PumpkinFest Toronto to remove the live animal stage show from their event line-up. By doing so, PumpkinFest can continue to be a fun-filled, family-friendly event without causing harm to any animals.

Instead, festival organizers can introduce alternative attractions, such as more interactive activities for children, craft workshops, or even virtual wildlife education showcases. These changes would not only appeal to a larger audience but also reflect a commitment to ethical entertainment standards.

If you agree that we can celebrate the harvest season without compromising on our values of kindness and compassion, please sign this petition. Together, we can help transform PumpkinFest Toronto into a model of humane celebration.

We want to sincerely thank and commend the organizers for confirming that there will be no petting zoos or pony rides this year. This is a huge improvement and a wonderful step forward.

https://www.change.org/p/urge-pumpkinfest-toronto-to-end-the-live-animal-stage-show

Caption from: CAARE - Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research an Experimentation.

Organs-on-chips are small, innovative devices containing living human cells that mimic key functions of organs such as the lungs, liver, heart, and gut. They allow researchers to study diseases, test potential treatments, and investigate how the human body responds to chemicals and medicines - using models that are directly relevant to humans.

By replacing animal experiments with advanced human-based science, organs-on-chips are just one of the superior options helping build a future where research is both humane and relevant to human health.

caareusa.org/get_involved

Repost: American Anti-Vivisection Society

September is animal pain awareness month. Although this month is typically associated with chronic pain in companion animals, it is also an important opportunity to talk about the pain that animals in research suffer.

Just like our animals at home can experience pain, so too can an animal used in testing. If you agree that animals should not have to suffer, share this with your friends.

Learn more here: https://aavs.org/animals-science/how-animals-are-used/

XCellR8 was the world’s first testing laboratory to be completely animal and animal-product free. For nearly two decades, we’ve pioneered human-relevant safety testing that delivers regulatory-accepted results without compromise.

Repost from: XCellR8

4 Shocking Problems with Animal Testing You Didn't Know 🐾

Animal testing isn’t just outdated; it has critical issues that need addressing. Here are 4 shocking problems you might not know about:

1. Ineffective Translation to Human Results: Animal models often fail to predict human reactions accurately, leading to unreliable results and potential safety risks.

2. Ethical Concerns and Animal Suffering: The use of animals in testing raises serious ethical issues, including the pain and distress animals endure during experiments.

3. High Costs and Lengthy Processes: Animal testing is not only expensive but also time-consuming, delaying the availability of new products and innovations.

4. Availability of More Accurate, Cruelty-Free Alternatives: Modern, animal-free methods provide more reliable data and are increasingly available, offering better alternatives to outdated animal tests.

At XCellR8, we’re committed to providing ethical and effective testing solutions. Learn more about the benefits of animal-free methods at www.x-cellr8.com 🌟✨

#ScienceNotSacrifice

This is going to be EPIC!!!

207-mile march. 14 days. One demand: ABOLISH ANIMAL TESTING ❌💉🐶 Hundreds will march across New York and ending at Marshall BioResources, one of the nation’s largest breeders of animals for use in laboratories. Join us in taking action: https://www.marchforanimals.org/

March for Animals will be joined by Camp Beagle and East Lothian Uncaged in their respective countries.

Repost: Humane World End Animal Testing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it’s adopting two new non-animal technologies that can replace chemical and pesticide experiments on animals! 👏🏼

🫁 Digital models of 3D human airway tissue will now be used to predict how a chemical used in soaps, detergents and cleaning products may irritate human lungs, instead of causing rats and mice severe respiratory distress by forcing them to inhale the chemical.

💻 An advanced computational model will now be used to predict how toxic some pesticides are if swallowed by humans, instead of ordering new tests on animals.

We’re actively working with the EPA to replace animal tests with technologies exactly like these, so we are excited to see that they are making progress! We urge the agency to continue quickly phasing out animal tests and eliminating redundant experiments, like the 90-day dog test. 🐾

Read the EPA’s press release ➡️ https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-two-major-scientific-advancements-further-eliminate-animal-testing-raise

Cruelty Free International is a UK-based animal rights organization founded in 1898 in Bristol, England by Frances Power Cobbe, campaigning for the abolition of all animal testing.  It works through education, research, lobbying, investigations, and undercover work in laboratories.

The Leaping Bunny Program:

1. Cruelty Free International works to end animal experiments worldwide by investigating and exposing conditions for lab animals

2. The Leaping Bunny logo was introduced in 1996 as part of an international coalition effort

3. To earn Leaping Bunny Approval, brands undergo a rigorous audit confirming that products, raw materials, and ingredients aren’t tested on animals at any stage

4. Approved brands must be independently audited every 12 months and recommit to the program annually — this ongoing verification is what sets it apart from companies simply self-declaring “cruelty-free”

Repost: The Save Response Team

survey of Canadian attitudes to animal testing was commissioned by the CCAC in 2024, and found that:

:17% considered it acceptable "to use animals for medical and scientific purposes when no effective alternatives are available", and
:40% considered it somewhat acceptable.

This is far from showing support for the current regime of animal testing.

First, how often are effective alternatives available, in fact?

https://riseforanimals.org/news/sci-news-jun-2026/

And even when there isn't an effective alternative now available, there may have been, had humanity moved away from animal sacrifice and focused its engineering genius into non-animal methods years ago.

Second, would Canadians consider the following "medical and scientific purposes"?

-hangover remedies
-new & improved plastic surgeries
-yet another amphetamine for kidz
-yet another pesticide for agribiz
-yet another fanciful What If / Why Not of an ambitious post-doc
-a prof doing the thing that gets them funding, again
-playing video games with your brain
-ever better ways of extracting meat, milk & eggs from animal slaves
-a new vaping flav

Repost: Last Chance for Animals (LCA)

Behind laboratory walls, animals are suffering in silence.

For nine months, an undercover LCA investigator worked inside York University in Toronto, caring for nine rhesus macaques used in neuroscience experiments.

What they documented is heartbreaking: barren steel cages, restraint collars, cranial implants, severe psychological distress - and evidence that some monkeys were so deprived of water they drank their own urine.

Without LCA’s undercover investigation, none of this would have become public.

Now, LCA is calling for an end to non-human primate research at York University and the surrender of the nine macaques to a sanctuary.

Please visit www.SaveTheYork9.com and click TAKE ACTION to send your message to York.

Every major victory for animals begins with the truth. And the truth begins with an investigation.

Please help us continue exposing cruelty that others work so hard to hide. They cannot tell their own stories. They are depending on us.

#AnimalRights #AnimalActivism

Repost from: Last Chance for Animals

Britches is one of the most iconic images in the history of the animal rights movement.

In 1985, a one-month-old baby monkey named Britches was rescued from a laboratory at the University of California, Riverside (UCR).

Britches had been torn from his mother at birth. His eyelids were sewn shut. An electronic sonar device was strapped to his head, blasting a high-pitched noise every few minutes as part of a research experiment.

The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) raid that rescued Britches exposed the reality of animal research to the public. LCA Founder and President Chris DeRose was the ALF spokesperson in the 1980s.

Britches was taken to a sanctuary in Texas, where he was adopted by an elderly macaque who had already raised several orphaned monkeys. He lived to be 20.

The raid disrupted eight of the 17 studies, and they were never restarted. UCR also stopped sewing infant monkeys' eyes shut, according to reports the university filed with the government.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) later investigated the laboratory's animal care program and declared it appropriate, requiring no corrective action.

Animals, like Britches, still suffer in animal research and animal testing across the globe. Animal research needs to end.

#WorldPhotographyDay #NationalScienceWeek #Britches #EndAnimalTesting #AnimalActivism #AnimalRights

Repost: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Millions of animals are used in experiments every year to test chemicals for regulatory requirements, including chemicals that have already been shown to be safe. The Physicians Committee is working to change that.

We are proud to collaborate with Insilica, a computational modeling company whose tool ToxIndex aggregates more than 100 billion data points and 115 million regulatory documents, allowing scientists to obtain required regulatory data without a single animal experiment. The Physicians Committee welcomed Insilica as a sponsor of our 2026 Summer Immersion on Innovative Approaches in Science and has partnered with the company to train regulators on how to review and accept nonanimal submissions with confidence.

Through our NURA, ERA21, and Summer Immersion programs, we are helping build the infrastructure that makes animal-free science the norm, not the exception.

Learn more: https://www.pcrm.org/news/good-science-digest/physicians-committee-collaborates-computational-modeling-company-insilica

Repost from: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Science is moving beyond animal experimentation.

For decades, research has used millions of animals across nearly every scientific field. Many endure painful, invasive procedures, and for most, sanctuary or adoption is never an option. But there's a bigger problem: These experiments often don't predict what happens in people. At one university, dogs were used in deadly cardiovascular experiments for 35 years without producing a single result for patients.

A new generation of research is already changing that, but it's still the exception, not the rule. Lab-grown human tissues, organ-on-chip systems, and computational models allow researchers to study how diseases and drugs affect people in systems based on human biology, not animals. And the shift is real: From medical schools to federal agencies like the FDA, NIH, and EPA, it's already underway. The result is science that's more ethical, more efficient, and more relevant to human health.

The tools to move beyond animal experimentation exist. What they need now is momentum, so this becomes the standard, not the exception.

Want the full story on the science moving beyond animal experimentation? Visit PCRM.org/AnimalFreeScience to read our Good Science Digest.

Repost from: Animal Alliance of Canada

‼️ YORK UNIVERSITY HAS BROKEN THEIR SILENCE‼️ Here's What They Said to Us.

The CCAC has closed its review of York's primate lab without finding a single deviation. The university is using that finding to attempt to end the conversation.

Following over three months of consistent outreach and requests to meet with the university, on August 12, Animal Alliance of Canada finally received a letter from Amir Asif, Vice-President Research & Innovation at York University.

It states that the Canadian Council on Animal Care has completed its review of York's primate research program. In Asif's words:

"the CCAC concluded that it did not find deviations from its policies and guidelines in the ethical use of animals in science at York University."

And then, two paragraphs later:

"we do not believe that a meeting with senior University leadership would be productive at this time."

Asif goes on to say "The University remains committed to conducting world-class research while upholding the highest standards of animal welfare and ethics"

Animal Alliance of Canada's position is that the highest standard in biomedical science today is innovative, human-relevant research. By that measure, what is happening in the Behavioural Sciences Building is not world-class. It is a methodology the rest of the field is actively working to leave behind.

Most Canadians reasonably assume there is a government agency inspecting research laboratories in this country. There isn't.

The CCAC is a non-profit body that writes Canada's national guidelines for animal-based science and certifies the institutions expected to follow them — York among them. It is not a regulator. Participation is voluntary, tied to eligibility for federal research funding through the granting councils. It has no statutory authority to compel compliance, levy penalties, seize animals, or shut a facility down.

Bento, Kenning, Magneto, Monkey Do, Hannah, Liesl, Mini-Sass, Olivia and Virginia remain at York University. Nothing about this outcome changes anything for them.

Real accountability will not come from the CCAC. It will come from public pressure and political action.

We are calling for three urgent steps:

1. Pressure York University to end its use of nonhuman primates in invasive research and release the macaques currently in its care to a species-appropriate facilities.

2. Pressure the Ontario government to extend Bill 75's new protections for dogs and cats to nonhuman primates too, ending invasive medical research on them across the province.

3. Pressure the federal government to accelerate investment in non-animal research methods, including organ-on-chip systems, computational modelling, and human-relevant testing platforms that eliminate the need for primate models altogether.

York University has told us, in writing, that it does not consider a meeting productive. It is entitled to that position. It is not entitled to have the matter end there.

Take action now:

📄 Read York's letter in full in our recent news update — https://www.animalalliance.ca/york-university-breaks-silence/

✍️ Send our action email — https://www.animalalliance.ca/campaigns/end-primate-research-in-ontario/

🔗 Share this post

A CCAC assessment is not accountability. It is a procedural step that almost always ends in continued certification and continued suffering. York's letter is what that looks like, in the university's own words.

Repost from: Last Chance for Animals (LCA)

🚨100 DAYS. NO ANSWERS. NO ACCOUNTABILITY. YORK UNIVERSITY REMAINS SILENT.🚨

It has been 100 days since LCA exposed the suffering of nine rhesus macaques used in neuroscience research at York University. Yet York University remains silent and has failed to take accountability for the suffering documented in the investigation.

The investigation exposed macaques suffering from cranial implants, social isolation, restraint collars, and water deprivation.

💔SOME OF THE MACAQUES HAVE BEEN SUFFERING AT YORK FOR 17 YEARS.💔

LCA continues to call on York University to end its primate research, surrender the macaques to a sanctuary, and prioritize the use and development of non-animal methods.

➡️100 DAYS OF SILENCE IS 100 DAYS TOO LONG.⬅️

To learn more and take action, visit:
SaveTheYork9.com

York University

Repost: PETA

In another monumental win for animals, ACA International has exited the monkey-to-lab shipping business ✨🐒

This company has been on PETA's radar, and now we're glad to see it’s no longer involved in transporting monkeys to their deaths in labs because of your kind actions!