Outdated Animal Tests; Alternatives Coming Very Slowly

The Saturday, April 12, Washington Post has an important but disturbing front page animal story, headed "In U.S., Few Alternatives To Testing On Animals; Panel Has Produced 4 Options in 10 Years."

The story, by Gilbert M. Gaul, opens with a discussion of the infamously cruel and backward LD 50 tests:

"Each year, American doctors inject more than 3 million doses of Botox to temporarily smooth their patients' wrinkles and frown lines. But before each batch is shipped, the manufacturer puts it through one of the oldest and most controversial animal tests available.

"To check the potency of its product under federal safety rules, Allergan Inc. injects mice with Botox until it finds a dose at which half of the animals die -- a rough gauge of potential harm to humans.

"Animal protection groups consider 'lethal dose 50,' as the test is known, to be 'the poster child for everything that's wrong with animal testing,' said Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States. 'It's as bad as it gets, poisoning animals to death.'

"Allergan officials say they have no choice. Without a federally approved safety test that does not use animals, a company spokeswoman says, lethal dose 50 'is by default the required test.'

"The controversy over the Botox test highlights the slow pace of government efforts to replace or reduce the large numbers of animals used by pharmaceutical companies, chemical manufacturers and consumer firms to ensure that their products are safe for people. A decade after Congress created a panel to spur the development of non-animal tests, only four such tests have been approved out of 185 reviews, according to the panel's records."

We read:

"Instead of acting as an advocate for companies and nonprofits proposing non-animal tests, the panel has become an obstacle, animal welfare groups say. They point to Europe, where a similar panel has approved 34 alternatives to animal tests and has another 170 in its pipeline. Critics say the U.S. panel is slow and favors older animal tests that have never gone through the same rigorous scientific review."

We also read:

"Members of the panel also contend that it is unfair to compare Europe and the United States because the laws, rules and expectations are different. Europe has legislation mandating the use of non-animal tests. The United States only recommends their use."

Of course, the legal requirements create the necessity that drives the research. But we read:

"Nevertheless, some U.S. company officials and scientists said they have delayed or abandoned their proposals for non-animal tests because panel reviews are protracted and expensive. Others consider panel members biased in favor of animal tests that in some cases date back to the 1920s."

The article tells us about a worrisome email exchange:
"An e-mail exchange last summer between the panel's chair and other government scientists reinforced the suspicions of animal advocates that panel members are resistant to newer tests. In the exchange, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, the scientists discussed two recent papers by a prominent European researcher favoring an alternative approach known as evidence-based toxicology. One scientist asked what they could do 'to combat these papers.'"

We also read:
"In 2005, the Humane Society requested that ICCVAM review non-animal alternatives to the Botox test. A panel of scientists gathered in 2006 and produced a draft report of the meeting in August 2007. But nearly a year later, the Humane Society's Stephens said he is still waiting for a final report and for direction from the federal group on what additional research is needed."

The article compares the US system to the one in Europe:
"Europe began moving away from animal testing more than 20 years ago. The European Commission voted in 1986 to require the use of alternative tests wherever possible. It later banned animal testing for cosmetics and passed other rules affecting chemical makers.

"The European Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Methods, or ECVAM, was created in 1991. It has more than 60 employees and a budget of $25 million, about 10 times the size of its American counterpart. Another important difference: The European panel researches and develops non-animal tests, while the U.S. committee does not."

You'll find the full front page article on line at http://tinyurl.com/4flu8z You can comment at the bottom of that page. Or, please, send a letter to editor. Though the information in the article is disturbing, its appearance on the front page of the Washington Post is a breakthrough, so appreciative letters are called for. They will keep the discussion alive in the paper, and encourage similar coverage in the future. The Washington Post takes letters at letters [at] washpost.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

At http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/iccvam_toxicity there is a form that makes it a cinch to send a letter to your legislators asking them to "Please hold a Congressional hearing into the creation and funding of a new entity to oversee the implementation of the NAS recommendations to incorporate humane, fast, and effective non-animal test methods into government-required testing with all due speed."

Please take just a moment to visit that link and send your letter.


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)


Please go to http://www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read advance reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals” and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.